


Shake the Disease

by snugglesformuggles



Series: Quarantine au [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon? I dont know her, Falling In Love, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining, Omg they were quarantined, Sickfic, So much pining guys, alien infectious diseases, and then like that's it, but not actually COVID, epidemic talks, fluff too dont worry, forced living together, gross medical talk, im in public health i know what i be talking about, it's off screen don't worry, it's the canonverse but like without all the sucky parts, klance, lmao yes this is inspired by COVID, omg they were roommates, quarantine au, season 1/season 2 lion configurations, season 2 knowledge, so most of it, some people get sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 55,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23521174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snugglesformuggles/pseuds/snugglesformuggles
Summary: Keith and Lance are remarkably unlucky, as always, when they try to help a planet that just happens to be battling not only the Galra universal occupation, but a highly infectious alien disease that could not only kill them, but their entire team as well. In order to save the planet, Voltron and essentially the entire universe, they have to be quarantined for an unspecified amount of time. They can only do so much in quarantine and end up having to fight anxiety and boredom together.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Quarantine au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765960
Comments: 102
Kudos: 296
Collections: Klance Fics I Really Enjoyed





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, hi I know its been a while since I've done anything but man I've been so bored in quarantine y'all I just had to write something. I thought I might as well post it for anyone else feeling like me.  
> This takes place at some point before Zarkon got murked in season 2, so pretty much before shit hit the fan.  
> Listen, I just really have a special place in my heart for early Voltron adventures and I really like the characters and making new alien worlds so that's what I'm doing.

The planet that needed to be saved by Voltron now was a small planet, mostly tropical climate and the people were semi-aquatic, to which Lance was very excited at the prospect of.

“Semi-aquatic means beaches! Which means after we save these guys they’ll be so thankful that we could have a beach party! And it could mean beach babes….” He said at the team meeting. He smirked at Allura and wiggled his eyebrows.

Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes at his antics. 

“Can you for once pay attention to the mission side of things? All you ever do is think with your dick,” Keith said, narrowing his eyes in annoyance.

Lance immediately reeled back in offense. “Hey, I’ll have you know that I’m just as capable in the field as you, dropout, I just happen to think about other things too. Not all of us can be as frigid as you.”

In the middle of his rant he ended up crossing the few paces between him and Keith, pointing his finger at his chest. His anger pulsed underneath his skin and he was close enough to point out the details of Keith’s face, like the faint speckling of freckles he had over his nose or the more purplish tinge to his eyes rather than the usual steely gray. 

Keith opened his mouth to retort back when Shiro stepped in physically between them, hands on each of their shoulders. 

“Enough.”

That one word did it for them and they stepped back, not before giving one last glare and turning away with matching huffs.

Allura turned her disapproving eyes over them all and then entered in the new coordinates. “We will let the Blue and Red lion through to the surface and let the other three distract the Galra fleet so that those two can evacuate as many citizens to their designated crisis centers as possible. Then they will get back up to the fight, form Voltron and take the armada down.”

“Why Blue and Red? I’m better at stealth,” Pidge asked, confused as to the dynamics of the plan. 

“Blue is the one with the affinity with water elements and Red is the fastest. We don’t actually need to sneak past the fleet, we just need to get them through to the surface. Besides, despite their bickering, they are the best teams in the situation of a ground assault. Lance is also the best at calming Keith down in the presence of regular citizens,” Allura answered with an alarming amount of confidence. 

“I am?”

“He is?”

“Do you want to argue with the princess while she’s actually complimenting you or do you want to show everyone you can work well together?” Shiro asked, looking at them both with eyebrows raised, daring them to speak up against the plan. 

Lance blinked and shrugged. “Fine by me if you need me to mediate with the hotshot over there.”

Keith let out a disbelieving snort at that. “Yeah right, I’ll keep his mind on the mission at least.”

Hunk was the one to interject this time at the sign of another bickering match. “Alright so everyone’s on board, let’s go suit up.”

Lance patted his best friend on the back and Hunk grinned wide his thousand-watt smile that could melt glaciers. 

“Let’s kick some ass, Voltron!”

Keith already knew that this mission was going to go south, just because he knew that any mission that he’s done with Lance as a partner has gone awry in some way. He was on edge as he was waiting in Red for the signal for him and Lance to head down to the surface. 

Allura’s face was broadcast on screen in front of him, battle ready. “We are coming into orbit around Riveon’s fourth moon. The Galra should pick up on us now. Shiro, Pidge and Hunk head out.”

Shiro nodded on his end and they all shared a look as a team, as they always did before a battle. 

The three of them cut out and it left Keith and Lance in the video. Lance sighed and stretched out his limbs, looking as unperturbed as any other mission.

“You gonna watch my back, samurai?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Keith smirked. “I’m sure you can handle it, sharpshooter.”

Lance actually looked a bit surprised by the response, laughing a bit. “Better than you can, I bet.”

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” 

Keith grinned at the usual banter. It was different than the bridge, which always seemed to confuse Keith more and more. He wasn’t sure where he really stood as a person or a teammate with Lance. One minute they were at each other’s throats and the next they’re laughing along at the same jokes and banter. It sometimes gave Keith whiplash. 

“Keith, Lance, head out now there is an opening. Let the Red lion lead, Lance,” Allura said, urgently.

Keith almost expected Lance to find some reason to argue with that, yet he just nodded on the video and said “Copy that. Lead on, samurai.”

Red shot out of the hanger with Blue just behind him and they both weaved expertly around the moons and the chaotic battle happening around the planet. They were just below the commotion and went around the worst of it, getting lost in the numbers of ships currently engaged in the fight.

“We got some stragglers out spotting us here, Keith. Should we take them out or keep going?” Lance popped up on screen, pointing to the left of them, where a few fighters chased after them.

“You take the lead, I’ll take them out from behind you.”

Lance saluted and sped ahead, while Keith did an impressive flip to immediately turn his lion around and blast the fighters in one move. He would be lying if flying and fighting like that wasn’t a thrill to him, so he smiled at his victory. He quickly changed his course again to catch up with Lance, while also scoping out the battle above. It was progressing more and more, which left them little more time to get past onto the ground to facilitate evacuation.

“Let’s get a move on, we don’t have that much time left,” he said opening the channel to Lance.

“Right you are, samurai. Where are we supposed to land again?” 

Keith pulled up the maps to Riveon’s current civilizations. Most of the people were in small villages or nomadic, so it was harder to pinpoint an exact metropolitan area, so they guessed where the highest proportion of lifeforms would be the best guess to start. He sent the coordinates to Lance’s screen and sped ahead to take back the lead. 

They approached the planet’s atmosphere and the lions gave atmospheric conditions, which told whether they could breathe normally or not. The specs indicated normal temperatures and oxygen levels, which makes their job a lot easier. It was so much harder when trying to speak through the helmets or while dealing with adverse weather patterns. When they broke through the cloud barrier and caught sight of the planet for the first time, Keith heard Lance audibly gasp.

He had to admit it was a wonder to behold.

The ocean was the clearest blue he had ever seen, and the beaches were a bright salmon pink color, contrasting the ocean incredibly. The sky looked a gorgeous lavender color, with two suns on the horizon. They knew it was a binary star system, as they had to take into account the gravitational waves when debriefed on the mission.

Keith had to shake himself out of his awed stupor and continue searching for citizens, who he started to notice dotted the beach landscapes. The land was sparse and mostly islands all over the planet, so some were obviously in the waters.

“I see locals waving around on the beach, let’s head over there,” Lance pointed the out by heading first and Keith followed after.  
The closer they got, the more they started to notice their waving arms were strange and looked almost urgent.

“Something’s not right,” Keith said, narrowing his eyes. “Be careful and set the lions down farther away.”

They quickly disembarked down the beach, where some locals were yelling some things and pointing to the sky, Keith looked at Lance, who shrugged and pointed to their helmets.

“Maybe they’re freaked out by the idea of aliens? Let’s take off our helmets to show them we’re fine.”

Keith nodded and took off his helmet, followed by Lance, and that made the locals go even more crazy. 

“That didn’t help at all. Let’s just catch up with them and try to explain the situation,” Keith said, coming up next to Lance and sighing.

They had set the lions down further on the beach, away from the little village they found and so they had to jog to actually understand what the locals were saying, before stopping in their tracks.

“Stop! You can’t come near us! Plague! Plague!”

Well, shit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance decide what to do about the plague, meets some fun locals, and sees the fatality of the disease up close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is way longer than chapter 1 and that's because my life is chaotic so is this fic. Who knows how long it will get, no one knows where its gonna go least of all myself.

They stood on the beach, struck with the new information.

“Plague? Plague?!” Lance asked, or better described as yelled. 

Keith stuck a hand out in front of Lance next to him, then stuck his other hand in front to keep the locals back as far as possible. 

He took in the situation, trying to calculate the best course of action. He examined the locals of Riveon, bodies any coloration of dark blue or dark purple, with fins on their backs and on their heads and webbed fingers and feet. Their clothing was scant and mostly drapes, most likely to drop easily and enter the water. Their eyes were huge and a deep black color, taking up most of their faces and very small mouths, unless they chose to open wide enough to gape with rows of teeth. The group in front of them was a number of about thirty, some were shivering and coughing into their arms. There weren’t any children or older people in sight. They were standing together in a knot, while him and Lance stood about ten feet away from them.

He looks at Lance, whose face translates nothing but panic and confusion. He sighs and looks back at the group. He points at the person at the front, he believed to be a woman near their age.

“Explain. We’re going to stand this far back as you fill us in.”

The woman nodded, looking around at the rest of the group, who also all gave their assent. 

“We are on Riveon. I’m guessing you must be the paladins of Voltron, yes?”

They nodded.

“Galra attacked more than a deca-pheob ago. They have been poisoning our water so that whenever we go fishing or down to our farms underwater our people come back sick. Then, even the people on land started to become sick. We don’t have much in the way of technology or medicine. We are a resilient people, but we enjoy our peaceful way of life without the distraction of digitals or research. This, however, has not bode well for us as the Galra poison us without us understanding how or why. We do not know if you paladins are safe interacting with us as we are in the middle of a plague,” she explained, voice sounding scratchy and unused.

Keith pursed his lips, shoved on his helmet and opened the com links.

“Shiro, Allura. We might have a problem on the ground. Do not let anyone else through the atmosphere yet. We might have a plague situation,” Keith relayed back to the team.

A second of static met this, before several voices entered the link.

“Plague-,” Pidge repeated.

“Wait, what?” Hunk said.

Allura hissed over the links and said, “Are you both safe?”

“Lance and I are on the ground and spoke with locals. We may already be in contact. We don’t know. The locals don’t know much either, but they suspect some Galran involvement with the use of some form of poison. Should we leave or should we continue the mission as planned?”

Keith looked at Lance with a grim suspicion of her answer. Lance seemed to understand with a similar look and he sighed. 

“You are both already in contact. If you were to bring this aboard the ship, we could infect everyone. And if this is deadly, we cannot risk that. Continue the mission and the other Voltron lions will deal with the fleet. After you have evacuated all the citizens off the beaches, you can contact us again and we can discuss what to do about the disease,” Allura said, after a beat of silence. 

The rest of the team felt the grim understanding of what that sounded like. 

Keith closed his eyes, feeling his chest constrict with the fear of what could happen had they caught this disease with no known source or cure. 

He locked eyes with the local woman again. 

“Is this disease fatal? How many have died?” he asked, ignoring Lance’s shocked expression.

The woman’s whole demeanor shrunk at the mere thought. “We’ve lost at least a third of our tribe already. Our tribe reaches the ends of the islands here. There used to be hundreds of us on this beach. Now, there is barely 50.”

Lance let out a breath of air, closing his eyes at the numbers. Keith felt his vision narrow. He wondered vaguely if this is what panicking felt like.

“Allura, it’s real deadly. Lance and I will get as many people to their safest areas as we can and then quarantine ourselves with them. We will send up the lions so they can get as far away without getting contaminated. We’ll wait for your instruction after that.”

“Keith, I-,” Shiro came over the links, voice sounding choked. “What if humans can’t get it?”

“We can’t take that chance, Shiro. We’re the defenders of the universe. It’s our job to make sure as many of us get through this as possible. Now, win that battle and then we can talk about all this.”

He turned off his comm link to focus on his mission on the ground, locking eyes with Lance. His bright blue eyes were wide with fear, but also floating around the fear was grim determination.

Lance nodded, putting on his own helmet and turned to the crowd. 

“Show us your designated crisis centers on the ground around the islands. We will help move the sickest of you first. Anyone who is able is encouraged to help. If anyone is a medicine practitioner that can provide anymore information about the plague, please do so as we do this process.”

Lance spoke clear and concise instructions, no joke, no flirting and no beating around the bush. He was serious.

That probably scared Keith most of all.

Lance was frustrated.

Of course, it had to be a plague, of all things. That was one thing they couldn’t fight at all! Give him something to shoot, he’s got it. Give something to slice, Keith has got it.  
This? This could kill them both and it wouldn’t even be in a blaze of glory, it’d be with a withering cough and sore throat. 

How lame.

Lance was even more frustrated with how calm Keith seemed. He was always the hothead, but now? He’s calmly telling the team they might die from some alien plague and showing the locals where to go down into the bunkers.

Which was the crisis centers. In bunkers underground. 

It felt like they had just been transported to a tropical paradise with the struggles of WW2 Europe. 

He kept pace with Keith as the battle in the surrounding atmosphere got more heated and closer to the surface, making the threat to civilians more and more serious. He stood at the entrance to one of the bunker’s hatches, helping the younger children down, as Keith helped the older on the other side of the island.

“Come on, everyone, stay calm. We got to move quickly, but it doesn’t help to panic,” he said, to a group of older kids. They looked more alarmed than the younger children.

“Are you a hero?” one of them asked, holding the hands of some younger children.

Lance chuckled at the moniker. “Yes, I’m a paladin of Voltron. I help take down the bad guys. Now, I can see you help take care of the little ones, am I right?”

He blinked his enormous eyes, looking down at the small little fish children next to him. “These are my siblings. Our parents died in the plague quintants ago. I’m the oldest.”

Lance nodded, reaching a hand to them. “I’m here to help, just like you help them. Don’t worry, alright?”

The little boy sucked in a big breath through what looked like gills on the side of his neck, before nodding and handing a small hand to Lance.

He picked up one of the children in his arms, herding the rest down the steps. He looked behind to make sure the entire village was safe underground, before climbing down himself, one handed with a toddler in his arms.

He reached the bottom and handed off the toddler to the little boy. He put a hand on the little boy’s shoulder to stop him.

“What is your name?”

The little boy blinked up at him before pursing his tiny lips then saying “Trukal.”

Lance smiled at Trukal, bending down and patting his head, avoiding the fin. “Nice to meet you, Trukal. I’m Lance.”

Trukal looked confused by the smile, but patted Lance’s head back. “Hero.”

Lance breathed out a surprised laugh and Trukal followed the rest of the tribe deeper into the underground passages. He finally looked at the bunkers around them, noting mostly rock walls and fire lit torches lining the passages. He wondered how the people built them, but decided that would be explored another day.

He followed the rest down the right passageway, finding more and more Rivans down the ways, and felt the ground begin to shake with probable fighting above.

He turned his comm link on, checking in on the action.

“Shiro, I’m done with my part getting the people down into the bunkers. I haven’t heard from Keith, yet.”

“I’m done too. I’m down the south corner, towards the middle of the island.”

“Good work, you too. Now hunker down and keep the people safe. We’ll contact you when we’ve disabled the fleet.”

Lance moved through the crowd in the direction Keith indicated to meet back up with his partner. He felt nervous thinking what this situation might mean for them together. They don’t know these people very well, so this might very well be a trap. The only people they can trust are each other. 

And that’s pretty difficult, seeing as how they’ve been arguing since they shot up into space.

Typical that this happens to them. Just typical. 

He moves through the crowd expertly, his lithe body weaving and brushing people aside to fit through the smallest of gaps. He searched through the fins to find the familiar mass of black hair. He tried to ignore the stabs of fear whenever he heard one of the Rivans coughing or sneezing.

He wonders vaguely if there was such a thing as space hand sanitizer because he generally felt like he needed to bathe in it.

Lance rounded a corner and finally spotted Keith’s ratty mullet in the middle of a circle of aliens. He pushed through to meet his eyes and sighed.

“There you are. Is everyone here?”

Keith nodded. “I got everyone to get the word out to go underground. Now I’m trying to find the doctors to see about this plague thing.”

Lance sighed again. “Right. The plague. Which we definitely had to have come into contact with now. Seriously, what are we going to do if we get it? And when do we know?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out. We don’t even know if it’s something we can catch as humans,” Keith said, rubbing his forehead anxiously.

“And if it is? Keith, I really don’t want to die from some alien disease in the middle of nowhere!” 

Keith gave him a sour look. “And these people don’t want to either, but they’ve already lost most of their tribe. This is our job, Lance. We can’t abandon them.”

Lance blinked at the look, sighing again. “You’re right. Okay, so does anyone know where the doctor is?”

He looked around at the group of Rivans surrounding them, who then looked at each other.

“Our medical staff will be looking after the sick. We’ve set them down the path on the left so the healthy stay as far as they can,” one of the males spoke up, pointing down the darker passageway. 

Keith nodded, pushing Lance towards that passage. He felt the air change as soon as they started walking, less torches and a deeper danker air. The number of Rivans immediately started to dwindle, until they found only one or two slumped against the walls.

As they went further, they saw more and more sick creatures, laying across the ground, sitting against the walls, coughing and looking weak. 

“They don’t look like they got the plague,” Lance said, noticing no dark spots or welts as he’d read about the Bubonic plague.

“Because, Lance, this is an alien disease we know nothing about. It’s not the Plague from Earth,” Keith said, rolling his eyes. 

“Oh, right,” he said, nodding. 

He followed Keith through the miserable group of people lining the walls. He saw pain and grief in their faces, pulling at his heart. One man opened his eyes and reached out as soon as they passed him.

Lance stopped, looking at his hand and then took it in his own gloved hand.

“Are you okay? Do you need something?” 

“Lance, that’s not a good-,” 

He hushed Keith with a look. He turned back to the man, looking into his deep black eyes and searching over his indigo colored body for any residual wound he could help with. But, of course, there was none. The man sucked in a shallow breath, sounding like nothing was really being absorbed.

“Do you need help? What can I do?” he asked again, squeezing the man’s webbed fingers in his own. 

“My….daughter…..” the man said after a few more moments. “She…..needs me….Flara…”

Lance felt his eyes sting at the sound of pure desperation in the man’s raspy voice. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know where your daughter is. But I can promise to find her and make sure she’s well taken care of, okay?” he promised the man, voice breaking slightly at the end.

The Rivan breathed out a sigh of relief, before coughing through his gills. Lance suppressed a flinch at the cough and just squeezed the man’s hand through the fit. 

“Thank….you…stranger. You are….truly good.”

And with that, Lance witnessed the man’s eyes blink one last time, before shutting and breathing his last. 

“Sir?” he asked, putting a hand to the shoulder. “Sir, are you-,”

Keith was suddenly at his side. He put a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“He’s gone, Lance.”

Forceful grief filled Lance. He shut his eyes and let hot tears fall. He didn’t know the man, but his empathy was strong as it always had been, and it was a curse in that moment. His chest was hot and his heart pounding at his emotional overflow. 

“Thank you, paladins,” a voice came from behind them. They whipped around, to see a ragged looking woman with a stack of what looked like notebooks in her hands. “I’m the medical staff’s chief herbalist. You may call me Yuna.”

“You’re the doctor?” Keith asked. 

Lance stood up straight to take her in. Her skin was paler than most of the people, a shade of light periwinkle. Her eyes were just as wide, but still seemed to convey how exhausted she was. 

“Yes, I believe that is your word for it. My apprentices are doing everything they can to help ease the pain of their passing, but there’s only too many. Thank you, Blue one. He has been unresponsive for days now and we saw his death coming but couldn’t provide any more solace.”

Lance cleared his throat, wiping at his eyes and cheeks. “I wish I could have done more.”

Yuna nodded, gesturing them to follow her. She began walking back through to the entrance of what Lance in his head branded the “sick passageway”.

“The illness has taken many and we can only do so much. We have taken to trying to make their lives as comfortable as possible and alleviate the worst of the symptoms,” she explained, with a trained measure to her voice. “My head apprentice contracted it a quintant ago. She died in my arms just hours ago.”

“I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Keith came up on her other side. “What do you know about what caused it? Is it viral? Or poison?”

She turned to him. “We believed that the Galra had poisoned our waters, but I’m beginning to believe that isn’t true. We may have come across a new virus while underwater that ended up mutating above ground, turning it into the plague we have now. It just happened to coincide with the Galra’s plan for occupation.”

Lance tsked. “That’s a lot of rotten luck if that’s true.”

Keith sighed. “Do you have any means of treatment? Or a cure?”

She shook her head. “We are only just now getting a handle of what symptoms are caused. We don’t have the diagnostic technology needed to do the necessary research. I do not know if your alien bodies would be susceptible or not.”

They stopped walking as Yuna knelt down next to a younger, less sick girl sitting up against the wall.

“Gurs, how are you feeling today?” she asked. “Any changes?”

The girl coughed pitifully. “I feel like a Norbolm is sitting on my chest. And I’m really dizzy today.”

Yuna nodded, opening up a notebook and jotting that down. “Could you open your gills for me?”

The girl breathed in through her gills and Yuna turned her head to examine them. 

“They don’t have any improvement, but they don’t look worse either. We’re going to take that as a victory,” Yuna said, grasping the young girl’s hand.   
Keith and Lance exchanged worried glances. That’s a victory?

This is going to get real bad, isn’t it?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get a plan together and also find out some interesting things about each other and themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, this might actually get plot. Lmao I don't think that was intended at the beginning but its probably happening so let's see where that goes.

The battle was fought another few hours, definitely longer than normal without the Blue and Red lions, but a Voltron victory at the end, anyway. 

During this time Keith and Lance were stuck underground, impatiently waiting to see what the team would come up with in regard to the plague. Before all this had settled, Keith found a way to prioritize the mission and didn’t think too hard on the fact they were basically stuck in the bunkers until further notice. But after all the Rivans were safe underground and they got all the information they could, he was starting to get restless.

“Could you please stop? You’re making me anxious.”

Keith stopped pacing the dark passageway they found to be thankfully free of Rivans and turned to glare at Lance sitting on the ground against the wall.

“Oh, sorry that I’m making you anxious as our friends are out risking their lives and we’re just sitting ducks underground in a plague infested bunker,” he growled in annoyance.

Lance had the actual gall to roll his eyes at that, which only pissed off Keith even more. 

“Dude, we can’t do anything. There’s nothing for us to blast, fight or blow up. Our combined knowledge? Is basically all that and nothing else. We’re useless,” Lance said, sighing.   
“We might as well just stick it out and hope the team comes up with a plan to vaccinate us or something.”

Keith growled again and kicked a wall. “I should be out there. We should be out there. The fight has gone on way too long.”

Just then, the shaking aboveground quieted down. The Rivans quieted down as well, looking at the ceiling with curiosity. 

“Keith? Lance?” Shiro’s voice came through on the comms.

“Shiro! Are you guys okay? Did you win?” Lance said, scrambling to stand.

“We barely made it. The fleet is gone. We did some damage that they won’t come back from.”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief. The tension in his gut lessened some. 

“Are you both okay? Have you gotten sick yet?” he asked. 

“No, we’ve only been here a few hours. If we contracted the disease by accounts we won’t come down with it for another few weeks,” Keith explained. 

Allura’s voice came over the line. “Weeks? How bad is it?”

“We watched two people die just down here, Allura. It’s bad,” Lance said, grimacing.

The line went silent for a few seconds.

“I’m really worried. I don’t want to leave you guys down there! What if you haven’t got it, but you have to stay for those weeks and then get it? And what if you….” Hunk’s panicked voice came through.

“I’ve come up with a plan, my quarantined paladins!” Coran’s chipper voice interrupted the grim direction the conversation was taking. “We will send down a ship with supplies and clothes and take up a sick Rivan in a containment pod to examine the disease. If we can isolate the cause, then we can begin to create a treatment!”

Keith and Lance exchanged a glance at that. 

“And exactly how long would that take?” Keith asked, skeptical.

“Oh, probably no more than 5 of your Earth days! To examine, at least. For the development of treatment….that can take up to one of your Earth months.”

Keith groaned. “Why can’t you just take me and Lance up in containment pods?”

Allura was the one who answered. “If you have gotten the disease, it will be from an alien source. We don’t know if we could develop a treatment from your human physiology to help the Rivans. We don’t just want you to be healthy, we want all the people on this planet to be healthy as well.”

Lance nodded. “Okay, sounds like a plan. We’re going to go talk to the Rivan tribe’s leader and explain the situation and plan. Hopefully we can get out of the bunkers at least.”

They cut it off and looked at each other. 

“So, we might be here a while?” Lance asked, a statement formed into a question.

Keith only growled and kicked the wall again. 

The Rivan tribe’s leader, an old woman by the name of Limorose, agreed with the plan and so did Yuna. 

“We’ll take whatever we can get,” she had said.

Lance had gotten perspective on the situation when that man had died in front of him. He wanted to help these people get better. If that included being stuck on the beautiful beach planet while the team worked on a cure, then so be it. Keith, however, had started getting more and more frustrated. Lance decided that he would take the lead on the quarantine mission, as Keith had taken the lead on the crisis part of the mission.

He had to reluctantly agree with Shiro, that they actually could make a promising team.

“I’ve been talking to Coran. They’re sending a shuttle down tomorrow morning. We can leave the bunkers now. We’ll help move the sickest people up to the surface to wherever your medicine center is,” Lance told Yuna, already moving to help up a very ill older woman.

“Thank you for your help, Blue one. It may just save our entire people,” she said, holding up another ill patient. 

Lance nodded, moving the woman to his side, wrapping an arm around her waist. 

“Can you walk?” he asked her.

She nodded weakly. She didn’t speak, but moved her legs with Lance’s.

Moving the people back outside took longer than moving them inside, as the people weren’t in as much of a hurry this time. It took nearly two hours for everyone to congregate back on the beach. 

Without the threat of the Galra and the fear of a plague, Lance finally got a full view of the village. The houses were on stilts in the water, with long bridges connecting them to each other, with some open-air houses in the sand dotting the line of trees that looked like tall bamboo shoots with pale pink palm leaves at the top. The buildings were made of these bamboo-like trees, making the colors mostly light green and pink. 

Lance thought it looked like a true paradise.

They helped move all the sick into their homes in the water, some even going underwater to what seemed like a secondary medical clinic. Yuna told them it helped relieve some symptoms. Him and Keith let the Rivans take care of those people, as they didn’t want to risk contracting anything from the potentially poisoned waters. When the tasks were all finished, both sighed and collapsed on the sand in exhaustion. A Rivan had told them to wait until their accommodations were finished and hurried off. The twin sunset hung low in the sky. They sat in silence and watched until Lance began to hum Binary Sunset.

“What are you singing?” Keith asked, sounding nothing more than curious.

Lance looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “Um, Star Wars? Ever heard of it?”

“Ah,” an acknowledgement. “Never seen it.”

“What? Seriously?” Lance was incredulous. “I thought you would be all over that. Sounds right up your alley of ‘space nerd pilot stuff’.”

Keith snorted at that. “I preferred Star Trek. And that was mostly for William Shatner, to be honest.”

“Oh and no love for Leonard Nimoy? Spock is the greatest character in sci-fi history,” Lance did the Vulcan salute for emphasis. 

“Yeah, you got me there,” he shrugged. “I was mostly just for William Shatner being hot, though.”

Lance blinked at that. Keith? Thinking anyone was hot? It threw him for a loop.

He seemed to notice, looking down and frowning.

“What? Did you not know I was gay?”

Lance sputtered. “Oh, no. I just-it’s not that or anything. I was just-surprised, I guess. Of you-I don’t know, liking anyone? You always seemed so, like, far removed from what you show us-but like it’s totally fine! I’ve just never seen you-,”

Keith cut him off. “Pft, dude we’re in the middle of a war. I’m not exactly focused on hot alien dudes around. We gotta prioritize.”

“Right, yeah,” Lance nodded. 

A couple beats of silence followed. It was more awkward than Lance ever liked to sit in silence, so he broke it with his own coming out.

“But, like, young Harrison Ford, am I right?” 

Keith whipped his head around in shock, blinking. 

“Along with Carrie Fisher? Wow, that was so unfair,” he added. 

He stared some more, before laughing out loud. Something Lance hadn’t heard before and it sent a spike in heartrate, because Keith was nothing else but attractive. 

“Maybe when we get back to Earth, I can watch them,” he said, still smiling.

Before any thought process could occur that would give Lance a million reasons why what he said next would be a very bad idea he blurted out:

“We could do a rewatch marathon together.”

Keith looked even more surprised and the smile turned shy. “I think I’d like that.”

So unfair.

Keith was beginning to lose his frustration at the situation, turning to resignation. 

When the Rivan came back, he showed them their accommodations for now, which turned out to be one of the houses in the water, which they were both relieved. The open-air houses on the beach looked like not much privacy at all. 

The house itself was very cozy. It had a huge pile of what looked like bamboo leaves and under that was a stuffing of some sort of fluffy sea kelp as a bed. It was surprising soft and luxurious. Plus, the temperature outside had finally come down with the change to night, so it was just on the cusp of being pleasantly warm. There wasn’t much of a bathroom other than a toilet and a small shower nozzle. No shampoo, soap or anything. Keith thought it must’ve been because no one on this planet had skincare needs or hair to wash. They regularly lived and worked in the ocean, so they must have other things to worry about. He could understand that notion, but figured Lance would be affronted. 

“There are some drapes if you would like to change out of your armor. It is on the chair right here,” the Rivan pointed out. 

“Thank you for this, we really appreciate it,” Lance said, smiling at him.

If a Rivan could blush, it seemed as though that’s what he was doing. Keith was beginning to understand where he was coming from with that reaction. “It is no trouble. We are eternally in your debt for helping us with the Galra. We are sorry for the reasons you cannot return to your team, yet.”

“It’s not your fault,” Keith assured, however still feeling broody. “Your people are suffering more than we are.”

The Rivan’s head dropped. “We hope your experts can help us cure our ill. You are our last hope for our people’s survival.”

“What’s your name?” Lance asked. 

He looked surprised by the question. “I am called Oridion.”

“Oridion, we are going to do everything in our power to help your people. We promise,” Lance said, serious.

His eyes seemingly went even more wide than usual and he sucked in a breath through his gills. He reached his webbed hands up and grasped the fin on his head and bowed, looking as though that was meant as a symbol from his culture.

“We are honored by you heroes.”

Lance and Keith glanced at each other and then nodded.

“If you wish to eat after your hard day’s work, you can drop this into the water and someone will deliver plates of food,” he said, after a moment’s time worth of bowing. He gestured to a bowl of what looked like bath bombs on the floor next to the bed.

Keith was more surprised by that piece of information than anything else he had seen from that planet. He was desperate to know how any part of that worked but didn’t even know how to begin to ask.

“I will leave you now to your dreams. I wish for your peace and health.”

When he left, there was a tired silence in which both the paladins took in their new situation. Mainly being the one bed.

“I can sleep on the floor over here,” Keith offered, avoiding Lance’s eyes. He moved to the other side of the room, closer to the door. 

“Dude, that’s ridiculous. We’re basically already on the floor with this. We’ll just share it,” Lance rejected the idea, with no sense of hesitancy. 

Keith felt a new pang of anxiety at it, though. He wasn’t used to…sharing anything with anybody. Let alone a bed with his very attractive, albeit very annoying, teammate. But, again, he didn’t know how to properly voice that, so he just sighed. He was way too tired to really give argument, anyway.

“I guess I’ll wear some of the clothes. I’m not trying to sleep in my sweaty armor. And I could use a shower,” Lance said, picking out a blue drape. “Jesus, this isn’t much more than a loincloth.”

Keith looked at it and decided that it did look very much like just a loincloth. That wasn’t helping the “one bed” situation at all. He groaned and dragged a hand down his face. 

“God, how do we keep getting into messes like this?” 

Lance snorted. “As I remember we all piled into a sentient Blue robot cat we randomly found after rescuing a previously thought to be dead commanding officer from the piloting school that we either attended or got kicked out of.”

Keith hummed. “First mistake.”

They locked eyes and for a second just stared at each other and then burst into laughter. 

It was nice as a stress relief, because truly, their lives were incredibly strange. 

“Go take a shower. I’m gonna…order? Some food or whatever. I’m starving,” Keith said, eyeing the weird bath bombs.

“Wait, I really want to see what that does!” Lance said, excitedly.

Keith chuckled. “Alright, come on.”

They ventured outside their little room to their wrap around balcony that connected them to the other houses. Keith reached out and dropped the weird little ball into the water. It fizzed on impact, then sank and suddenly the water began to glow a bioluminescent electric blue around the entirety of their house.

“Woah,” they breathed out in unison.

It was dark by that point, which made the glow that much more impressive and beautiful. The stars were reflected in the water and then turned to the color and Lance sputtered out a disbelieving laugh.

“This place definitely would be top tier planets for me,” he said, beaming at the sight.

Keith turned and looked at him, which he thought was a major mistake on his part.

The glow illuminated Lance’s face and reflected in his very blue eyes, making them look even more ethereal to look at. The awed smile pulled at his face, the expression one of wonder and amazement. There was nothing to distract Keith from this exact sight, no thoughts to pull him back to a mission. He was stuck just facing the reality that was him and Lance on this planet for the unforeseeable future.

Keith was absolutely doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The setup was totally inspired by the windows screensaver houses from Bora Bora.  
> If you want a picture of it, for better visual reference here ya go:   
> https://wallpaperplay.com/walls/full/b/f/9/257953.jpg


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night goes by and they get to work on finding the cure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is mostly a filler and plot-heavy chapter, but there are a few good pining moments. next chapter we'll finally settle down and get good shipping moments between our two ridiculous boys.

They both ended up changing out of their armor into the drapes. 

And it was seriously bad for Lance’s sanity. 

These were just basically long towels. They were both shirtless now, with just long towels on. Lance was faced with shirtless Keith, in his infinite muscle glory. His abs were out and about and mocking him.

When the food arrived, he went out to get it alone and breathed in the open sea air and cursed underneath his breath in Spanish. He counted to 100, then brought the plates of food inside.

“They just dropped it off in front of our door without even saying anything,” he said when he walked back in. 

“There’s a lot of weird things about this place. They don’t even have soap,” Keith said from the bathroom. “They have an infectious plague going on and no soap? We should tell them they should get soap.”

“What’s with you and the soap? I’m more worried they don’t have any hair products whatsoever. My beautiful windswept look is ruined!” Lance whined. 

Keith sighed and came out of the bathroom. “I just don’t feel clean enough. I feel like I need to sanitize everything we brought here.”

And there they were again. Those cut abs just….in plain view. Not even to mention his lithe muscular arms and pecs. Lance cleared his throat, counted to 10 and focused on the idea of dying from a plague, before offering the food.

“I don’t know what it is, but here.”

Keith eyed the plate of green wrapped…things and thanked him. He sniffed it, raised a brow and then picked one up to examine.

“It smells kind of like sushi,” he said, suspicious. 

“It’s probably some kind of fish. They are basically like fish-people?”

They both bit into them delicately. Lance tasted definite fish-type taste but noticed an undertone of something spicy and maybe citrus? Nevertheless, it was delicious and they both devoured the rest immediately. 

“We have got to get the recipe for this to Hunk, oh my god,” Lance said, with a soft moan.

“Well, after months of food goo anything’s gonna taste great, but this is really good,” Keith said. 

They placed their empty plates next to the door and then eyed the bed one more time. Lance was fine with sharing beds, exceptional amounts of practice from his many siblings and cousins, but this time it was with Keith. Both of them shirtless. 

Keith seemed to get that this could be a bigger deal than Lance let on, because he cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I really could sleep over here, it’s not a problem…”

Lance breathed in, counted to 20 and then said, “Nope. We’re sharing. Because, it’s just a bed. And we’re….friends. Right?”

He glanced at Keith out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t mean to ask that sort of question right now, but it still was something he wondered.

Keith pursed his lips. “Yeah, of course. It’s not a big deal at all. Plus, we’ve got way bigger things to worry about. What’s sharing a bed? And it’s really not much more than a pile of blankets on the ground. That’s barely a bed.”

Lance laughed nervously. “Yeah totally. So…we’ll just….go to sleep now.”

He walked to the left side and sat, while Keith did the same on the other side. It was very soft for a pile of leaves and sea kelp. He turned on his side, not feeling any need for a blanket, seeing as how the climate was so temperate. He felt Keith do the same and turn his back to Lance.

“So, um, good night, Keith.”

“Yeah. Good night, Lance.”

Keith woke up to the sound of ocean waves, bright sunlight and a warm feeling against his back. It was one of the best night’s sleep he has gotten in years. For so long, adrenaline and nightmares kept him awake for various reasons. But that morning, it felt peaceful to breathe in the saltwater and feel the expanse of body pressed against his.

Which is exactly the position he found himself in, with Lance’s arm wrapped around his middle. 

Keith was now very awake and very much on edge. Once his mind registered the position he was in, there was one part that screamed “ABORT” and another that said “If you move on muscle and disturb this, you will regret it for the rest of your life.”

And he had no idea which part to listen to. 

Thankfully, he didn’t have to make a choice because Lance started moving from behind him. Keith shut his eyes immediately and tried to imitate a soft measured breath pattern. Lance breathed in, prickling Keith’s neck and then took back his arm quickly. A few seconds ticked by, in which Lance seemed to be panicking just slightly and Keith absolutely panicking.

Lance didn’t need to know that, though. 

So, Keith breathed in a few more times then subtly moved to pretend he was just waking up. He blearily opened his eyes, turning to look at Lance. 

“Hey, dude! Good morning! Sleep well?” Lance said, overly chipper. He jumped up from the bed, stretching his arms. “Wow, I slept great. The ocean sounds are really nice and soothing, huh?”

Keith nodded, not sure how he should respond to Lance’s obvious attempt to avoid a mention to the fact they woke up spooning. Should Keith say something? It was Lance that did it, after all, so Keith shouldn’t be the one to feel embarrassed. 

Then again, he did already pretend to sleep through the ordeal.

“We should contact the team to see the shuttle plans,” was all he said.

Lance jumped on the opportunity to change the topic. “Right!”

He bounced to where they left their helmets, giving full view of his broad shoulders and back. The muscles stretched over his shoulder blades, twisting up and down.

Keith was then a very compromised man.

He closed his eyes and recited multiple mission briefings, going through the details of planets and constellations. Built his hovercraft back home in his mind one more time then breathed out.

“-yeah and send some of my face wash. They’re in my bathroom. Oh and like soap, obviously. Got any space hand sanitizer?” A few beats of silence. “Never mind, thanks Coran. Do you mind putting Hunk on?”

Keith got himself under control and watched as Lance turned, with just his long loincloth and paladin helmet. He snorted at the sight.

Lance only narrowed his eyes. “What’s so funny?”

Keith shook his head. “You look like a kid at the beach acting like he’s a space ranger.”

He cocked his head in confusion, looking down and noticing his outfit. 

“Huh? Oh nothing, Keith’s making a joke,” Lance said, ignoring him to continue his conversation. “For the last time, dude. Galra Keith is the same as regular Keith, so he can’t be funnier than he was before.”

Keith tensed up at that. He had almost forgotten the new development in learning about his lineage. 

“Yeah, I know. But, still it’s not exactly nice to keep bringing up as if he’s any different. He’s always been Galra. So, he’s just Keith.”

He risked a look at Lance, who was turned away from him again. He felt warm at what Lance was saying about him. Should this be something else he should bring up?

“That’s besides the point. Anyways enough of that. We need real pants down here. I’m getting uncomfortable breezes in places I don’t know how to feel. But, like bring shorts and tank tops. It’s still really hot. And bring hair elastics for Keith. I’m sweating just looking at the mop on his head.”

Keith rolled his eyes. There’s the Lance he knew.

“Yeah, put Shiro on. I’m gonna give the helmet to Keith.”

Lance walked over and handed him the helmet without making eye contact. 

“Uh, thanks.”

He stuck the helmet on and turned on the comms.

“Keith?”

“Shiro. What’s the plan?”

There was a breath of relief on the other side of the comms. “We’re sending Coran in a hazmat suit with a pod full of clothes and supplies. You should talk it over on your end to see which Rivan to send up for Coran to examine.”

“Tell Coran to take something to test the water with, too. We should check to see if it really is poisoned with something,” Keith added, doing a mental checklist of things they needed to have investigated.

“Right, good idea. Lance went over the things we needed to bring down. You got anything else you need?” Shiro asked, sounding a little amused.

Keith sighed and rubbed his forehead. “No, I’m fine with everything he probably demanded.”

Lance overheard and probably surmised what he was talking about and let out an indignant noise. Keith smirked.

“Alright. We’re sending Coran down now. He’ll explain the process when he gets there and will give a better estimate of how long you have to stay there.”

“Thanks, Shiro.”

“Hey, kiddo? Don’t go too stir crazy. I know this isn’t something you wanted to happen and would rather get straight back to fighting as soon as possible, but this is serious. We need you to stay as safe as you can and be cautious,” his trademark Big Brother voice came through.

“Yes, sir.”

Shiro chuckled and Keith grinned. He knew that Shiro had to have been worrying himself sick (no pun intended) over this, so he wanted to relieve some of that tension.

“Alright, sassypants. Just be careful and don’t kill Lance.”

“No promises.”

They cut off the link and he took off the helmet.

“We need to talk to Yuna and see which Rivan to send up in the pod.”

Lance nodded, standing up from the chair and reaching out to pull Keith up from the bed bundle on the ground. They headed out in the morning sunshine, blinking at the brightness. Rivans were all up and already moving about in the houses, in the water and on the beach. For a people dealing with a deadly plague, they weren’t exactly staying away from each other.

“Do you remember which house she’s in?” Lance asked, looking around the maze of houses in the distance. 

“It was close to the center, I think?”

They manage to ask one Rivan, who pointed out one of the largest houses right in the middle of the interconnected weave of bridges. They walked along the pathway, nodding and smiling at Rivans as they passed (at least Lance was). The Rivans only bowed or hurried past without making eye contact.

“They do seem really anxious about things,” Lance pointed out.

Keith hummed, watching as some Rivans avoided the houses with audible coughing. 

“Do you think we should explain some better hygiene habits? Something like a stay-at-home order?” Keith offered, quietly so that only Lance would hear.

Lance shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we should talk to Yuna and Coran about it. We don’t exactly have much authority. The best we could do is make suggestions. Plus, we don’t know how this is spread. It might not be airborne at all.”

It made Keith nervous thinking about how deadly this is and still so many people out and moving around. But he had to admit Lance was right. They still didn’t know if it was the kind of contagious you could get sick from just being around a person with it. 

As they moved through the houses, the closer to the center they got, the less people they saw. By the time they got to the largest that was Yuna’s home, there wasn’t anyone around. 

Lance knocked on the door. “Yuna? Hey, it’s Keith and Lance. Could we come in?”

A few ticks went by and then the door flew open, revealing a very disgruntled and wide-eyed Rivan that wasn’t Yuna. He had more clothes on than most Rivans and carried a few pieces of papers haphazardly. 

“Paladins? Of Voltron? You need to inquire something of the chief?” he asked, voice shaking and breathing hard.

“Uh, yeah. The pod that’s supposed to go up to the castle with one of the sick is coming down right now. We need to see if she would know of someone to send up so that our team could take a look and maybe develop a treatment,” Lance said, blinking at him.

“Oh! Of course! The oceans have blessed!” the Rivan breathed out. “I am one of her apprentices. I will get her right away!”

“Thanks,” Keith said, moving closer to the door to go in.

“You shall not come in, though. It’s not safe. Too many sick in this house. Please wait out here,” the Rivan said and without another word shut the door in their faces.

“Well, okay then,” Lance said, taken aback.

“At least they’re taking it seriously,” Keith said, approvingly. He walked to the pathway surrounding the house and leaned against the railing. 

A few minutes passed until finally Yuna opened the door and closed it behind her immediately. She sighed out, rubbing her webbed hands over her face.

“Paladins. Did you sleep peacefully?” she asked, sounding weary.

“Uh, yep, like a lo-, never mind, we slept well. Are you doing alright? Have you been sleeping?” Lance asked, looking concerned.

Yuna let out an unamused chuckle. “Do not worry. I am only doing my job. Marner informed me you want to know what citizen with the illness I am sending. I believe I know who it should be. Please follow me.”

They followed her back through the maze of houses again, Keith was sure at some point him and Lance were going to get lost until they stopped just west of the center of the village, in front of a much smaller house than the others around. It was closer to him and Lance’s little apartment hovel than the large family sized ones around the edges of the water village.

Yuna pursed her fishy lips and then knocked. 

A scratchy female voice answered, saying “You are invited.”

Yuna glanced at the two of them. “Breathe carefully.”

They nodded, understanding what she meant at that. They followed her in and found the same young girl from the day before in the bunkers laying on one of the large kelp beds and a young girl next to her, squeezing a rag of water over her skin.

“Chief Yuna! We are honored,” the healthier girl said, wide eyes turning to the group. “And the heroes of Voltron!”

“Baraniss. You may treat us as equals. Rosina, how are you feeling today?” Yuna asked, coming to the sick girl’s other side. 

Rosina’s deep royal blue skin looked pale and sickly even to Keith and the sound of her breathing was raspy and shallow. Her dark black eyes blinked, unaware of most going on around her. She looked much worse than the day before.

“Please, Chief. Her skin has risen in temperature and her left gills aren’t even breathing anymore. She’s so young and she’s always been healthy. Why is she so sick?” Baraniss asked, sounding desperate. 

Yuna closed her eyes in what looked like grief. “I was so hopeful. She seemed so strong.”

“I can’t lose her! We’ve only been partnered for a single sun trip! Please, she is everything to me!” Baraniss cried. 

Keith grimaced at the scene. It brought him back to days where he repeatedly lost everyone he had loved, too. He sympathized with this pain. 

“I do not know if she would be right. She may not live long enough to go through the tests,” Yuna said, aiming the explanation at Lance and Keith.

“We’ll take her,” Keith said, immediately. “Maybe they can help her on the ship. Better than on the ground.”

Lance whipped his head around at the quick decision. “Uh, are you sure, dude?”

Keith locked eyes with him. “Yeah. We can help.”

Baraniss blinked in confusion. “What? Take her? Where? Why?”

Keith stepped forward and bent down next to her. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to have our team help Rosina.”

She looked struck for a moment, before grabbing her face with her webbed hands. “Truly? With medicine and technology?”

“We’ll try everything we can,” he said. 

Her lips pursed, before she flung herself onto him in a hug. “Thank you, heroes.”

Keith tensed at the sudden contact and then patted her on the back (avoiding the fin) a few times, awkwardly. 

“Sure thing.”

He glanced as Lance moved closer to the two of them, a fond look painting his expression. It made Keith clear his throat, neck turning red. 

Keith ended up carrying Rosina to the beach bridal-style, just as they found the pod had landed with a hazmat-suited up Coran bounding out of it, energetically. The Altean suit was white and blue, matching the rest of the castle. He had a helmet and generally looked like he was going for a space walk.

“Ah, number 3 and 4! Good to see you both still healthy and strong!” he greeted. “I see you have brought the Rivan that has caught the illness! Brilliant!”

Baraniss looked almost offended at how delighted the man sounded at the disease her lover had fallen ill with. Lance brought a hand to her shoulder.

“Don’t mind him. He’s harmless. He’s just really into learning new things and doesn’t like to look…sad,” he explained.

Keith shifted his arms to hopefully give Rosina a more comfortable position. She blinked her large eyes up at him.

“Where am I? What is happening?” she rasped out, confused.

Baraniss immediately jumped into action moving in front of Keith to bring her face close to Rosina’s. 

“My bright stars, it is alright. The oceans have blessed you,” she said, quietly. “These heroes are going to help you become healthy and well again.”

Baraniss stroked a webbed hand over Rosina’s face in a loving touch. Keith tried to look away, feeling like he was intruding on an intimate moment. He ended up catching Lance’s eye, an intense blue, highlighted by the turquoise ocean moving behind him in the distance.

Great, Keith was just constantly in trouble no matter where he looked.

“We will take good care of you on the castle!” Coran says, stepping out of the pod with a containment pod floating out after him.

Keith carefully laid Rosina down in the pod and left the lovers to say their goodbyes. He hoped that it would not be their last. He turned to Coran talking to Yuna and Lance.

“I would like to have any notes you have taken on this disease. I will also take a sample of the water and sand in case it came from those places,” Coran said to Yuna, quickly. “I hope to have answers for your troubling infection in just a few Earth days times.”

She looked confused at the time stamp, but didn’t mention it. “I will give you my apprentice’s copy of my notes. And you may do as you wish to take any samples you need.”

“Splendid!” he exclaimed, grinning widely. “And to you paladins, I have packed bags for your things as you are still quarantined to stay on the planet.”

Him and Lance sighed and nodded, resigned to their fate.

“I will also do a round of health checks, including blood and saliva samples,” he said, pulling out vials and needles.

Lance paled and looked horrified. “Ugh, I hate the doctor’s!”

Keith laughed out loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't really know how to end this one, but it was getting kinda long and i didn't want to just have gross medical shit all the time, so this is where its ended lmao   
> if you wanna come yell at me on tumblr, im at the same url as this username!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith settle themselves and make some new friends! And quarantine got us all spilling our guts and oversharing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh we got some feeling sharing going! Also I wanted Baraniss to be like their Rivan best friend so that's why I have her in this so much. Don't worry, we got some intimate moments between the boys coming up, we just gotta get Keith outta his darn shell first!

After the uncomfortable poking and prodding from multiple instruments in multiple places, the pod went back up to the castle, leaving Lance and Keith with bags full of personal items to use in their time on the planet. 

And they finally had pants, thank quiznack for that. 

Lance was strutting out of the bathroom in a pair of swim trunks and a loose tank top, feeling slightly more like himself.

Keith was dressed in, wouldn’t you guess it? Black.

Lance audibly scoffed. “Seriously, dude? You’re not even trying to dress for the occasion? It’s hot as hell outside! We’re on a beach!”

He only raised an eyebrow and looked down at his usual attire. “What? This is what I always wear?”

“You even have the stupid gloves on! What the hell, man?” Lance shook his head. “There’s no way you’re wearing that to the beach.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “What does it matter? We’re not on vacation.”

“Yeah I know that,” Lance said, petulantly crossing his arms. “But I grew up on a beach and that outfit is an affront to nature itself. You’re changing.”

“Oh yeah? And who’s gonna make me? You?” Keith asked, crossing his arms in imitation and stubbornness. 

“Come on, this is ridiculous. You’re going to die from heat stroke. At least change into shorts,” Lance persisted, ignoring the spike in heartrate at the idea of making Keith do anything. 

He stood there in argument for a few more moments, before sighing in defeat. “Whatever, fine.”

Lance let out a victory “ha!” while Keith went to the bathroom, but not without flipping Lance off from behind. He gasped in fake outrage at that.

“I’m telling Space Dad!” he yelled out.

“Good! I’ll tell him about the time you were talking about trying to steal his arm while he slept!” Keith yelled back from the bathroom.

“Damn it,” at that, he knew he lost. 

But, through the whole mission that brought their current tallies to a tie. So, he wasn’t that upset about it.

Keith came out in his swim trunks as well, with a pair of lightweight looking sneakers instead of his usual boots. He still wore his black v neck black shirt and horrendous half-fingered gloves. 

He gestured to himself, up and down. “Happy now?”

“It’s acceptable,” Lance conceded. “See? I can compromise.”

Keith rolled his eyes again and laughed. “Yeah, the king of getting along.”

“Yep! Thank you for finally acknowledging that,” he said, grinning widely. “So, now all that’s done. What do you wanna do?”

“We could get something to eat. I’m pretty hungry,” Keith said, walking over to the bath bombs.

“Oh, good idea!” 

They walked out together, but before they could think about dropping the bath bomb in the water, they ran straight into a body. He steadied her with arms on either side before she fell.

“Oh! My sincere apologies!” Baraniss said, shrilly. “I did not mean to!”

Lance smiled, kindly. “Hey, it’s no worries! Are you okay?”

She nodded, clearing her throat. “Indeed, I am well.”

“Did you need us for something?” Keith asked, giving a small smile. 

Lance wondered if maybe Keith felt some sort of bond with Baraniss. He was even able to calm her down when she started freaking out about Rosina being taken away. He filed the questions away for another time.

“I am just wanting to ask you about the sort of tests you will do on my Rosina. Will they hurt? Will she be alright?” she asked, looking very anxious. 

“We don’t know that much about it,” Keith said, frowning. “We’re only fighters, really. We aren’t the scientists or engineers so we don’t have a lot of medicinal knowledge or what kind of tests the castle has. But, we do know our team is really gentle and kind. They’ll take good care of Rosina.”

She breathed out through her gills and lowered her head. “I am sorry for troubling you with my inquiries. She is all I have in my life.”

“Hey, why don’t you stay and eat with us? We don’t have much to do around here and we could use the company,” Lance offered, pointing out the bath bomb.

“Oh! Are you for certain? I don’t want to intrude!” she said, surprised. 

“Nonsense! Right, Keith?” 

He nodded, smiling wider. “Come on. You can tell us more about your people and your relationship with Rosina.”

The Rivan’s eyes widened and then she nodded. “You heroes honor me.”

They went to the railing and dropped the bath bomb over the edge, seeing a similar sight as the night before, except this time in the daylight it was as though the water lit up with diamonds and it sparkled brightly to the surface.

Lance felt giddy at the sight. “Wow! That’s almost cooler than the glow-in-the-dark show last night!”

“It’s really something. Baraniss, what is this? We’ve never seen anything like it on Earth,” Keith asked, turning to the Rivan.

“Oh, that is called a bonda! It is nothing more than a call for service to my people. I guess I never thought about how it looked from an outsider’s point of view,” she said, cocking her head at their reactions. “Is it really that impressive?”

“Yeah totally! It’s so cool!” Lance said, leaning over the railing to see better. “At least it is to us.”

“There are much more impressive sights under the water,” Baraniss said, sounding amused by Lance’s reaction. 

“Oh, I guess that would make sense. We’ve only seen the surface so far,” Keith said. 

“True,” Lance said, nodding. “I did see some really cool stuff on that water mermaid planet with Plaxum.”

“Water…mermaid? What does that mean?” she asked, even more confused.

Lance laughed. “Oh right, I guess you wouldn’t know what a mermaid is.”

They took the time while waiting for their food to cheer up Baraniss with stories as paladins. She was very excited to hear all about the different places they’d been to and all the kinds of aliens they met.

“We’ve only met the Galra and the people from our own system. The people from the seventh planet in orbit are a strange color of green and only live in the sky of their planet. We almost did not believe them when they told us this,” she said, giggling at the memory. “Although I have never seen a Galra in person before.”

“Oh well Keith’s-,” Lance was about to say before Keith elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Ow! Hey-,”

He cut himself off at Keith’s murderous look. Right, maybe not out him as Galra without his consent. Noted.

“Keith, uh, has seen a lot of Galra! So have I, of course. Being a part of Voltron,” Lance quickly said instead, laughing nervously.

Baraniss only looked vaguely confused by the cover up, but must have chocked it up to regular weird alien things because she didn’t comment. 

It was then that they found a small Rivan walk towards them on the bridge, carrying plates of food in his hands. He blinked curiously as to why they were hanging out on the walkway outside, but left the plates with a low bow and didn’t say anything to them as he walked away.

“Why don’t they like, stay to chat or anything?” Lance asked, as Keith gathered the plates and handed them out. They all decided to stay out on the walkway and sat down, dangling legs over the water through the railing.

“It is customary for those using rooms like this one to be….preoccupied,” Baraniss explained, with an amused lilt to her voice. Lance was only confused for a tick and then realization dawned.

“Wait, do people here think that me and Keith…..” he glanced at Keith in the corner of his eye.

He was very obviously turning red at the insinuation and made even Lance embarrassed. 

“Oh, no, we do not assume such things from outsiders,” she said, shaking her head vigorously. “But we do give privacy in case there is….”

“No! We aren’t! We’re just….friends,” Keith said, quickly. 

“Totally just friends, nothing happening here,” Lance agreed. 

It was slightly disappointing to say, but it was the truth. 

“Do not worry. No one would mind if you were to use your time here leisurely,” she said, letting a sound out of her gills that almost sounded like a laugh. It was breezy, almost a whistle sound. It reminded Lance of whale sounds. 

“We….appreciate the privacy, but no. We’re just teammates and...partners,” Lance said, tacking on the last bit, even if that was a bit presumptuous. 

“Not like you and Rosina,” Keith changed the subject, smiling kindly. “You look very much in love.”

Baraniss darkened around her mouth, which Lance figured was akin to blushing. She nodded, resting a hand over her chest. 

“She is the waves on my shore,” she said, a wistful sound to her voice.

“Tell us about her,” Lance said, encouragingly. “What is she like?”

She hummed over a bite of what looked like fried shrimp in a bowl of fruit. “She is very intelligent. She is the most knowledgeable Rivan in the tribe. She was being groomed to be on the council whenever she finished her studies.”

She told this with an edge of pride in her voice. “But she is also very kind. She helps everyone whenever she can. That is how I think she got the illness, because she brought food and supplies to all the families with sickness.”

“What about you?” Keith asked, obviously wanting to steer away from that. “What do you do?”

She blinked at him. “I am also in my studies. I am to work on the underwater farms and with the agriculture system.”

“That’s pretty cool! I’m super curious about what those farms look like,” Lance said. “If Coran comes back with an all-clear on poison in the water, I definitely want to take a look.”  
Keith nodded. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it either. It sounds interesting.”

Lance almost raised a brow at that. Keith was being very sociable with this Rivan and it was very intriguing to Lance as to why. 

“I would be glad to escort you! Until then, would you like to accompany me to the beach? It seems I am more at ease speaking with you paladins than my own people right now. All of them only look at me with pity,” she said, lowering her head and sighing.

“Sure! We don’t have anything else to do,” Lance said, shrugging. 

“You can leave the containers outside your door,” she said, moving the bowls over and standing upright. 

They followed her through the maze of bridges and padded down onto the sand. Less people were on the beach and they moved further down so they were alone with the afternoon twin suns above them and they settled down on the pink sand that still vexed Lance.

They didn’t talk for a while, just together, the three of them sat in a small huddle. They gazed at the ocean in front of them, making Lance more homesick than he’d been in a long time. He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to tell them about it. 

“I lived on a beach back on our planet,” Lance said, finally. 

Both of the others turned their heads, listening. He smiled at the memories, feeling its bittersweet notes.

“Our planet’s really big. Full of all kinds of people. I’m from a place called Cuba. It’s an island right of the coast of a huge superpower. I grew up with a lot of people in my family. I’m the youngest of six siblings,” He laughed. “So many people all the time. Never get a moment alone. I liked that about it, I never wanted to be alone.”

Keith watched him with an unreadable expression. Baraniss looked like she was enjoying the story, so he kept going. 

“And, what else? We lived right on the beach. I would surf and play in the ocean all the time as a kid. It was as much of a home to me as my house with my family.”

The ocean waves brought back his own memories, filled with his siblings throwing him into the water, his parents on the shore yelling at them to play safe. The smell of his mother’s garlic knots and rupa vieja after a whole day of swimming. 

“But it was never enough for me. I knew the ocean, I knew Earth. But space? I didn’t know anything out there. And I wanted to see it,” he continued, losing the sweet feelings and let them turn more bitter. “And what do I find? A ten thousand year old war with a crazed fascist maniac.”

Keith frowned at that, turning back to the ocean. Baraniss hummed at the confession. 

“I understand your feelings. However you feel, I am still glad for your choice to come out and fight. If you had decided another path, my people may have all perished,” she said, laying a hand on his bare shoulder. “You sacrifice much to save the many. It is noble and good.”

Lance felt his chest constrict with something sharp and painful. He had heard a lot of praise for his Voltron adventures, but this acknowledgement of what he had to give up to do so from this one girl meant more than any parade in his honor.

Keith had watched this exchange and looked incredibly soft. He breathed in, then let it out.

“I’m an orphan,” he started, nervously glancing at Lance’s reaction. He had known this, but he felt like Keith had more to say so he smiled, hopefully encouraging more. Keith visibly relaxed, lowering his head to watch as he played with the sand. 

“I never knew my mother and my father died when I was 8. I…idolized him and it basically destroyed me. I didn’t know what to do. I was ripped out of my house and thrown into a group home after that. Family became…painful for me,” he said, his voice almost catching at the end.

Lance felt terrified to breathe too loud during this. It was like dealing with a skittish animal. Keith was being open and vulnerable for the first time he had ever seen and he didn’t want to do anything to suggest rejection. Before he had been quarantined on the planet with him, he may have said something witty to break the tension, but at this point it seemed like that would have just scared him back into his usual state.

Keith continued after a moment of silence. “But, then Shiro came to my school. He brought the flight simulator and wouldn’t you know? I was great at it. He told me how he became a pilot and all about the Garrison. It felt like I was getting another chance. So, he took me under his wing and I went to the Garrison. And I found my love for space. And I found my family again.”

“And then you lost Shiro,” Lance said, connecting the dots. 

Keith sighed and nodded. “And that hurt like hell. It was like losing Dad all over again.”

“This Shiro….” Baraniss said, carefully. 

“He’s the leader of Voltron. The Black Paladin,” Keith said, looking as though he were proud. “Before all this, back on Earth, he was a pilot that went into our solar system. There isn’t any other planets with life in our system, so most people don’t actually believe in other lifeforms. And on a mission to a moon around a different planet, he was abducted by the Galra.”

His face turned dark at the memory. “They just said that he died on the mission. He disappeared. No one knew what happened to him. They blamed it on pilot error. And that meant they blamed it on Shiro.”

Lance remembered it well. The days directly after the Garrison lost contact with the Kerberos mission. He doesn’t remember seeing Keith in those days at all. And then he just heard he had been promoted to fighter class because Keith had been booted out. 

“He was a hero before we were actually heroes,” Lance said, chuckling. “I idolized him at the Garrison.”

Keith finally looked up at him. “When I lost him, I lost myself. I ended up getting kicked out of the Garrison. I ran off to the desert and discovered the Blue Lion’s readings. Which lead us out here.”

Baraniss had tears swimming in her huge eyes and she grabbed her fin on top of her head. “Thank you heroes for trusting me with your stories. They are strong and profound. I will remember them always.”

Keith looked taken aback by her gratitude and he rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. 

“Uh, yeah. I just felt like…I don’t know. I wanted to tell you guys,” he said, sheepishly.

Lance smiled at him. “I’m glad you told us, too. You’ve always been so closed off, but now I feel like we’re really friends.”

When Keith shyly smiled back, hair falling into his face with the ocean waves in the background and the sand under them both, Lance knew he was done for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a lot of sharing and sad stories, which is going to lead into some really good moments between them two next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith Talk about some stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little short, but I felt like this was a good amount already and I liked where it ended. Don't worry I've got more coming for you

Keith was very embarrassed by what happened on the beach and how much he shared about his life. He had no idea about what came over him, but when he heard Lance talking about his family and the beach…it just happened to come out of his mouth. He didn’t know when the last time he talked that much about himself was.

The rest of the day went by with talking to Baraniss and some children that came by to ask about the heroes of Voltron. Lance went off and played with the kids, while Keith and Baraniss stayed to the side and watched. 

Keith laughed at Lance teaching the kids about piggy-back rides and was teetering under the weight of three on his back.

Baraniss touched his arm to get his attention, sounding her laugh noises through her gills.

“May I inquire about something?” she asked, cocking her head.

“Sure.”

She looked between Lance and him a few times, then locked back on him. “You say you both are ‘friends’. Yes?”

He cleared his throat, awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. Friends.”

She hummed. “My stars and I met when we were children. As most of us, we were in the same village and its difficult to get away from each other. At first, I actually did not wish to speak to her at all. She was the most intelligent of our age group and it intimidated me.”

She breathed out a whistle laugh. “I was insecure around her. As time wore on, though, I grew to understand her more and we became friends. Something about it all changed one day.”

Keith was beginning to feel very exposed around her and it wasn’t a feeling he was used to. A small part of him wanted to run from this conversation, but a larger part wanted to hear what she had to say.

“About a sun trip ago, we had begun to grow close. I realized many of my feelings of inadequacy around her had not actually come from a place of malice, rather of admiration. And this made my feelings for her known. We have been partnered ever since.”

He sighed. “That’s great for you both. But, I really don’t think me and Lance are like that. He only just started not hating me.”

Baraniss turned to him, a sly look on her face. “You have only spoke of how Lance feels for you. Not how you feel for Lance.”

He tensed and whipped around, surprised at her boldness. “What? No, there’s no-,”

She only stared at him, disbelieving. He sputtered for a second longer, then groaned pitifully. 

He deflated and looked back to where Lance was picking one of the younger kids up and using him as an airplane, flying through the air.

“Is it really so obvious?” he asked, quietly. 

She patted his shoulder in sympathy. “I doubt many others have noticed. I can see it because I understand you better than most. I too, have lost many in my life. I understand your eyes as I know you understood mine.”

He did understand her. It was the reason he immediately knew to trust her, unlike anyone else in his life, who had to work at the trust built between them. Baraniss, however, he took one look at and heard her talk about Rosina and he knew she was someone that he could bond with.

“What do you think of him?” he asked, still watching Lance entertain the children.

She turned to look as well, fondness painting her alien features. “He is good and a noble soul. He is funny and good looking, as well.”

Keith snorted at that. “I would think we would just look weird to you.”

She laughed her whale laugh. “Oh you do. But, it is a pleasant weird. A strange beauty, you might say.”

As Lance continued to make silly faces and dance around the kids, Keith nodded. “A strange beauty is very fitting.”

He watched for a little longer. “I can’t tell him. Plus, it’s only a small…attraction. Nothing more. We’re forced into quarantine together on a beautiful paradise planet. Of course I’m gonna develop some type of feelings. It’ll go away eventually.”

She hummed again. “Maybe so. If this is not the truth, however, if you do have true feelings for him. What will you do?”

Keith pursed his lips. “I still couldn’t tell him. He deserves someone better than me. He’s bright and positive and loves his family and the oceans on Earth. I’m a pessimist angry angsty orphan that couldn’t wait to leave my own planet.”

Baraniss was silent for a while, before she put a hand on his head. “I do not think that of you and I very much doubt Lance does either. You are brave and strong and you have been very kind to me and my people. You are one of the best people I have known.”

He let himself digest those words, unable to process the way Baraniss saw him. He has only been able to understand his flaws and his own pain. This alien he’s barely known for a day sees him as a hero and he only has seen himself as a temporarily lost antagonist. 

Keith let himself wonder for a minute that maybe Lance didn’t see him as just a rival either.

The day passed by in a slow crawl of some more hanging out and around the island. Baraniss left to walk the children back to their families, which left Keith and Lance alone again to think about what had transpired.

They walked along the beach, farther from the village for some better privacy.

Keith wanted to say something about their earlier conversation, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to say or how to say it.

Lance seemed to decide he’d break the ice.

“You and Baraniss seem to get along really well. I’ve never seen you so open with someone other than Shiro.” He said, trying to sound casual.

Keith nearly tripped on the sand. “I-uh, I don’t know why. I guess, the way she was talking about Rosina. It reminded me of how it was with Shiro.”

Lance looked at him strangely. They stared at each other a moment, Keith cleared his throat and turned away, ears and neck turning red with embarrassment.

“I just understand what its like for people to just see your loss and pain. I know that pity. I didn’t want her to feel that so much. So I decided I would talk to her how I wish people had talked to me back then. Like Shiro wasn’t dead and I didn’t lose him.”

Lance nodded mutely. “Right. For what it means from me, I’m glad you trusted me enough to hear about all that.”

Keith wanted desperately to hold his hand. For the small amount of romantic inclinations he had, he knew that this moment would be perfect for a first move. And yet, he only nodded.

“I do trust you. And I’m glad you told us about your family. I know it must be hard being out here with that going on.”

Lance smiled, wrapping an arm around Keith’s shoulders, momentarily surprising him. “Hey, everyone in Voltron is my family, too. That means you, samurai.”

Keith was keenly aware of the skin-to-skin contact that Lance was initiating, his shoulders nearly burning with the new feeling. He didn’t want to seem like he didn’t want the contact, so he gave a timid smile.

“What’s our roles in the family, do you think?” he asked, trying for a joke. “Obviously Shiro is the exasperated father.”

Lance laughed, throwing his head back squeezing Keith even closer. “Absolutely. And Allura? For sure Space Mom. But, like not them romantically together, that’d be weird. Like they decided to co-parent and got the craziest kids. Because me, you, Hunk and Pidge are so the crazy kids.”

Keith chuckled. “Pidge is the baby.”

Lance nodded, beaming. “So accurate. We all try to baby her and she hates it, because she’s so much smarter than us. But still the baby. And Coran’s our weird space uncle that doesn’t know what’s going on half the time and we have no idea what he’s talking about either.”

“And what about Hunk?” Keith asked, genuinely thinking about the weird family dynamic.

“Hm,” Lance said, scratching his chin. “Maybe like the eldest that had the most time to learn to cook and clean like a normal human.”

“What about us?” Keith asked, suddenly aware of what the connotation could be. Lance looked at him fully, stopping their momentum and pulling them both to stand still. “What are we in this scenario?”

Lance’s smile changed from open and jovial, to genuine and slightly timid. “Well obviously you’re the emo angsty teenager in his rebellious stage. I’m the awkward middle child who doesn’t know where he belongs.”

“The kind that gets into trouble and is the loudest so that he gets more attention?” Keith said, raising an eyebrow.

Lance lets out a nervous laugh and scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah, something like that.”

Keith elbowed him lightly. “Hey, you’re important to the team. I rely on you and trust you with my life, so does everyone else. You’re not some forgotten middle child. You’re our heart and soul.”

Lance’s gorgeous blue eyes were wide with surprise, before he took his arm back and set his arms on top of his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

“You know Keith, this whole day you’ve been ridiculously nice and soft and I’m gonna need you to be mean again or else I’m definitely going to cry and it’ll be embarrassing for the both of us,” he said, breathing in hard.

Keith was confused by the reaction, but still found it funny. “Okay, um, I think your hair looks…weird?”

Lance was not impressed. “Oh yeah, like you’ve got anything to say about my hair, mullet.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re the one who told me to be mean!”

But he laughed and shook his head. “Honestly I don’t know what’s come over you since being on this planet, but you should be like this with the team more often. Why don’t you?”

Keith wasn’t sure he wanted to answer that truthfully and he looked away awkwardly. “I don’t know…”

Lance wasn’t having it though, moving into his line of vision. “Wait, so there’s actually a reason? Come on, what is it?”

“It’s not important, Lance. I just don’t always feel a part of the team fully…sometimes. That’s all.”

He frowned at that. “What does that mean?”

Keith sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. “It’s nothing.”

Lance didn’t like that answer though. He stomped to be in front of Keith, entirely. He crossed his arms, stubborn and unmoving. Keith crossed his arms in response, just as stubborn.

“We’re not leaving until you tell me why you have that emo mode around the team,” he said, completely serious. 

Keith held his form for a few more seconds, then sighed again. “It’s hard to explain, okay? I just, when you guys found me and Shiro and then I realized that you were from the Garrison I knew that you must be all friends. And then you…very openly called me a rival and just, I don’t know. It felt like I was just not in the group. I feel like I’m on the outside.”

Lance gaped in shock, dropping his arms and blinked. “Wait, it was because….of me?”

Keith flinched. “It’s not…that simple. But, in general…kind of?”

He was tense with nerves and anxiety. He didn’t know that this was where the conversation was going to go.

“Keith,” Lance said, drawing himself up to his full height. He walked forward and laid his hands on his shoulders. “I am so so sorry. I’ve been such an asshole. I didn’t even think…God I’m so…”

He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again. “I’ve been jealous. You’re the best pilot from our generation from the Garrison, you were close with Shiro, you had all these admirers and I only got into fighter class because you got kicked out and I just saw you already trying to save Shiro and felt…like you were going to steal my thunder again. I was selfish and horrible to you and I’m sorry.”

Lance truly looked remorseful and Keith felt lighter than he had in years. Lance was jealous of him? He admired him? That’s what was going on?

Keith let out a disbelieving breath, that turned into a full-on belly laugh. Lance was taken aback and stepped back slightly from his reaction. 

Keith sucked in a large laugh, still grinning. “I thought you hated me! I’ve been jealous of you, too!”

Lance balked. “What? What do you have to be jealous of me for?”

“Hunk and Pidge are your friends and you’re all so comfortable around each other! I was jealous of that! And you can talk to anyone and be open around them! It takes a miracle for me to even talk to Shiro and I’ve known him for years!”

Lance blinked in even more surprise. “Really? But you’re so…and I’m so…”

“Yeah, exactly. We are completely different and we have different things we wish we could change about ourselves,” Keith said, finally feeling like he had clarity. “Why don’t we start over?”

He reached his hand out. Lance stared at it, looking between it and Keith’s face. He then relaxed, face full of gratitude.

“Yeah, that’s…yeah. Let’s start over,” he said, smiling wide and taking Keith’s hand. “Hey, Lance McClain. I’m a paladin of Voltron and pilot of the Blue Lion.”

Keith chuckled. “Nice to meet you. Keith Kogane. Pilot of the Red Lion. As I’ve heard from some rando kid from my school days, I’m the best pilot of my generation.”

Lance smirked. “Well that’s interesting, because I’ve heard that you’re just an emo angsty teenager.”

They teased each other some more, turning into a full chase around the beach and wrestling on the sand. Keith felt like he could finally relax and breathe normally since coming into space. He never realized he found his family already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is gonna be super sappy by the end of this because quarantine is weird as shit and does things to you


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pining, pining and more pining. It's painful, guys.

Lance was completely smitten. Keith was so adorable and open on this planet and Lance couldn’t get enough. He was smiling and laughing and talking about himself on a level Lance never thought possible. 

He was so gone for Keith, it was embarrassing.

And it made it so much more heartbreaking to know he was in love with someone else.

After the day on the beach, they retired back to the little house/apartment they were sharing and the one pile of bedding on the ground was very inviting as they were both exhausted. And it was also very terrifying, considering what happened the last time.

But he was determined to not make their relationship worse or more awkward, so he sighed and flopped down onto the bedding. Keith rifled through their bags, then went “aha!” when he found what he was looking for. It was one of their castle pads, similar to Earth communication devices.

“Shiro sent an update on tests,” he said, swiping through a few things. “Seems like Rosina is in stable condition right now and she’s getting some good treatment for her symptoms. They still haven’t isolated the virus yet, though.”

Lance nodded, sighing. “Coran did say it would take almost a week. God, even with all the oceans and everything I’m going to get so bored. Heads up, dude. I get real weird when I’m bored.”

He snorted, swiping through a few more documents and then made a small noise of acknowledgement.

“Good news is they found the water is clear of any outside poisons or substances that would be harmful for us or the RIvans,” Keith said, still reading.

At that, Lance leapt up in excitement. “Wait really? The water is safe?”

Keith nearly jumped back at how fast Lance moved. “Uh, yeah. It seems like it.”

Lance beamed, rushing over and pulling on Keith’s arm. “Come swimming with me!”

“What, right now?” he asked, incredulously. 

“Yeah, why not? Come on, I’ve been dying to get in the water!” Lance gave him a signature pouty lip and puppy dog eye. “Please?”

Keith frowned at his face. “Are you really giving puppy dog eyes right now?”

Lance turned up the effect to 11, adding in a head tilt for good measure.

Keith gave a valiant effort to resist, but eventually groaned and rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll watch as you play around in the ocean. But, I’m not getting in, alright?”

Lance whooped, stripping his shirt off immediately and running out the door, vaulting over the railing straight into the water. The water was a shocking cold to his system, as he was used to the humid heat of the day and this was only slightly warm. It was soothing and he breathed a sigh of relief when he broke through the surface again.

Keith yelled a “hey!” before scrambling after him and leaning over the railing. “Lance!”

“Keith! This is great!” he said, grinning up at Keith’s scowling face. “It’s so nice!”

“Yeah, I’ll take your word for it.”

Lance laughed, floating on his back, lazily. “Are you sure you don’t want to join me?”

Keith rolled his eyes, leaning against the railing in a more relaxed way. “Not a chance.”

Lance pouted again. “Aw, come on, why not? Can’t you swim?”

“Of course, I can swim! I’m just not getting into the ocean this late on an alien planet with a viral alien plague going on!” 

Lance shrugged, kicking around in a circle in the water. “Suit yourself, samurai.”

The water was crystal clear and Lance was dazzled by the unfamiliar constellations in full view above him. He made a mental note to ask Baraniss what kind of myths and legends they had of the stars. There were more galaxies in this sky than in Earth’s sky. 

He continued to float with ease, feeling much more at peace and connected to his home and childhood. The water pulled at his memories, flashes of his family and his house in Varadero came to the surface. The pang of nostalgia and homesickness accompanied them, as they always did. The guilt of leaving Earth without so much as a word of his well being or what he was doing. 

Keith must have seen a change in expression, because he spoke up. “Hey, you’re gonna make yourself sick, come on.”

Lance let out a huff of unamused laughter. “I thought we were already gonna get sick. That’s why we’re stuck on the planet.”

“We don’t know yet if we’re gonna get sick. This is just a precaution,” Keith said, an edge to his voice.

Lance thought some more about their situation and then the usual anxiety associated. 

“And what if we do get sick?” he asked, lowering himself to stand in the chest-high water. He looked up at Keith. “What are we going to do?”

Keith frowned more. “We’re not going to get sick. We don’t even know if it affects humans.”

“Keith, you’re at least part Galra. That could put you at least part at risk. And if it does affect humans?” he continued. “I don’t want to die here. And I definitely don’t want to watch you die.”

Keith blinked at that, seemingly not expecting that. “I…Lance we can’t do anything about it if any of that happens. You said it yourself, this isn’t something we can fight. We just need to trust Coran and the castle.”

Lance looked down at the water reflecting the stars. He waved a hand through the picture. He didn’t respond after that and he sighed. He knew all of this and he wanted to believe in the castle, because that’s all they had. 

“Lance. We’re going to be fine,” Keith said, reaching down from the railing. “Come on. Let’s eat and watch one of the weird Altean movies pre-loaded onto these devices.”

Lance looked at the hand then back up to Keith, expression soft and open as it had been the entire day. Another pang of heartache at his fond eyes. But nevertheless he reached up and locked hands with him.

“Yeah, that sounds fun.”

After indulging in another delicious, albeit just a little strange meal, they settled back onto the nest of bedding. Thank quiznack they were able to dress fully this time, for Lance’s sanity.

“So, it looks like Pidge and Coran was able to translate a couple of the movies. What’s your favorite genre?” Lance swiped through a few titles.

“I…don’t really have much of a preference,” Keith said, shrugging. “Although I don’t usually search out those really dramatic Oscar-nominated movies. Not that there’s anything against them, I just don’t have the focus for it.”

Lance chuckled. “Honestly that’s the same as me. I always get distracted in those scenes where they’re just looking sad to sad music with sad lighting. And like…I just don’t like sad movies.”

“Yeah I probably could have guessed that one about you,” Keith said, smirking. 

“Oh, ha ha. Yeah, I’m predictable, sue me.”

“Most of the time. Every once in a while, you can be…a little surprising,” Keith said, pursing his lips. 

Lance let out a nervous laugh. “How about a very formulaic action movie? A lot of explosions and gritty guys that sweat too much?”

Keith feigned a contemplative look. “As an intellectual, I do think high art deserves more than just a dumb action movie with barely any plot, however as a resident gay man, I do appreciate some sweaty guys.”

Lance took a tick to absorb that statement, before throwing his head back in a loud belly laugh.

“I’m inclined to agree,” Lance said, grinning and elbowing Keith. “Let’s see some hot Alteans shall we?”

The movie was just as predictable as Earth movies, even with the occasional Altean cultural changes. One of which was a weird matrimony with a large goopy monster and a gorgeous alien man that neither Keith nor Lance could guess if that was just a movie gimmick or something that regularly happened.

Lance speckled his usual comments through the whole movie and while at the castle, Keith would usually roll his eyes or maybe tell him to shut up, but this time he would laugh or agree or comment something himself. 

“I’m just saying look at that Galra! She’s way too good for him,” Lance said, gesturing at the scene. “Come on! He’s so useless!”

“True,” Keith said, nodding. “Although I see the aesthetic appeal.”

“Yeah, but she’s been doing all the hard work. Yet, he gets all the credit?” Lance scoffs. “Typical.”

Keith chuckled, settling more into the nest, looking relaxed and sleepy. Lance leaned just a little more into Keith’s space, so he could see the screen better, obviously. By this point their entire sides were touching, shoulders squishing together.

By the end of the movie, they were basically cuddling. Lance swiped away from the movie at the Altean written credits.

“Time to go to sleep?” Lance asked, quietly. In response, a weight fell onto his shoulder.

He tensed, then cautiously looked down at Keith’s sleeping head settled against his frame. Nerves lighted Lance’s system and excitement kept him as still as could be.

He was weak, alright? And this beautiful boy was trusting him enough to be this vulnerable around him. Lance very carefully moved them both to lie down completely, only stopping when Keith would adorably scrunch his face up. 

They stayed as close as possible through this and lying down, they were really cuddling. Lance respectfully kept his hands just above Keith’s waist, while Keith blearily reached and wrapped his arms around Lance’s middle.

Lance was sure his heart couldn’t take much more. He knew he had some feelings for Keith, but this? This was starting to feel more than just “some feelings”.

And he knew Keith was in love with Shiro.

He was so completely doomed.

Keith was over the moon about Lance and it had him doing so many embarrassing things. He had some feelings for Lance before, but as soon as Lance apologized for how he acted before, it was as if something clicked and Keith was gone for him.

But he was so inexperienced he didn’t know what to do. Plus, it was completely irresponsible to pursue anything in the middle of not only an intergalactic war with a ten-thousand-year-old empire, but an alien plague as well. 

And yet, each time he and Lance seemed to get closer as friends, it sent Keith into another gay panic. 

Like that moment waking up after falling asleep during the movie. Finding himself cuddling Lance yet again. And this time, they were facing each other and were in each other’s arms.

Keith nearly screamed out loud but caught himself at the last moment. 

He breathed in slowly to slow his heartrate, then let himself take in Lance that close.

Lance was breathing in and out evenly, eyes closed. Keith figured he was still asleep. Their faces were only inches close, such that Keith could make out a few tiny imperfections in Lance’s skin. He almost laughed at the idea that Lance would ever have any kind of skin imperfection. 

Lance’s hair was sticking out at odd ends and looked just as soft as he always thought it would. And it took his entire willpower to not run his hands through it.

Keith finally noticed it was morning, with sunlight filtering through the cracks in their walls as it was a wooden hut, basically. 

Lance made a small noise and scrunched up his nose and Keith panicked slightly, wondering if he should feign sleep again and just in time shut his eyes.

He felt Lance breathe fully and move under his hands still wrapped around his middle, but this time Lance didn’t jump up and away like before. Keith nearly opened his eyes again in surprise, just before realizing that Lance actually moved closer.

“Hey, there, sleepyhead. We should probably get up now,” Lance whispered, bumping his nose against Keith’s.

Keith fake stirred, thinking he’d definitely wake up if Lance had done this when he was actually asleep and blinked open his eyes.

The vast ocean of blue that met his own sent his heart straight into his throat. Was Lance always this beautiful? Because it was only since coming to this plague-infested planet that it actually start to affect Keith’s general brain function. 

“Sleep well?” Lance asked, quiet in the moment still. 

Keith had noticed that neither of them had bothered to move from their cuddling. So, he decided to not mention it so as not to make it awkward.

“Yeah, I slept great, you?” he whispered. 

Lance nodded, nose brushing against Keith’s again. “Since coming into space I’ve had a lot of problems getting to sleep with the quiet castle and the sterile….everything. But here, the oceans and the wood and the smells just lull me to sleep so easily.”

Keith let himself smile. “I’m glad you’ve found to really like this planet. I like seeing you so at ease.”

Lance chuckled. “That’s rich coming from you. I haven’t seen you smile this much maybe ever. You sure you haven’t caught some alien happy virus?”

Keith rolled his eyes. No, just fell for an insanely pretty human boy, but that’s not for Lance to find out.

“That’s not a bad thing, mind you,” Lance said, finally pulling back out of Keith’s personal space and sitting up. “I like seeing you like this, too. Feels like I can breathe again for the first time in months.”

Keith rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “Is it bad? That we’re so relaxed when we could literally be a walking petri dish for some deadly alien virus? I feel like we should freak out some more or…something.”

Lance worked his mouth, turning his head in consideration. “Yeah, I kind of felt that way last night. Maybe we should be implementing some more strict rules on the village about keeping the sick away from people and do some more investigation into who came sick first?”

“Find a patient 0 you mean?” Keith asked, settling back into Paladin mode. “That could maybe help establish a line of infection. We should talk to Coran and Allura about it.”

Lance sighed, deflating. “I’m guessing this means we’re not going to just be tourists anymore?”

Keith actually felt bad for bringing it up this way. “Yeah, I’m afraid not. But, we are Paladins of Voltron. We should have done this in the first place, really.”

“Alright, well I think you should lead this one,” Lance said, turning a confident smile on Keith. “You’ve been connecting really well with the people here. It’d be a great start to you becoming a more effective leader.”

Keith furrowed his brows in confusion. “Wait, what? What do you mean…leader?”

Lance shrugged, standing up and stretching his arms behind his head. “Come on, we all know Shiro has you lined up to take over the command someday. You can give it a shot here and get some more diplomatic experience.”

Keith blinked and felt his whole chest surge. Lance really believed that someday Keith was going to become the Black Paladin?

“Lance, I’m not going to be leader. Shiro is just being paranoid about the final fight against Zarkon. Nothing will happen that would cause anyone to switch lions around,” Keith said, shaking his head. 

Lance scoffed. “Yeah I know nothing’s going to happen to Shiro. But, think about what he’s been through. At some point he’s going to want to hand the reigns off to someone else. He’s been in Galra prison and tortured. This all has to be real hard for him as it is. He deserves some kind of retirement.”

Keith looked down at the bedding. Of course, he knew that. And he wanted Shiro to be happy. And he knew that Shiro being Paladin bothered his PTSD a lot. 

“I know that and I want that for him,” Keith said. “But, me? Leader? I’m the team loner and hot head, remember? Nobody would want to follow me.”

“I would follow you.”

Keith snapped his head up to see a red-faced Lance, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

“You would?”

Lance nodded. “In a heartbeat.”

Keith was blessed by the oceans for sure. Either that or cursed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, just so y'all realize all of this is not good social distancing habits and ineffective lockdown orders, which is why the virus is so bad and deadly. So yeah, follow any stay-at-home orders for COVID and practice safe social distancing so this isn't what happens


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misunderstandings and Baraniss is not getting paid enough to deal with their obliviousness.

Lance was sure he was either going to die from the virus or heartache by the end of the enforced quarantine on the planet. Every second spent as Keith’s new friend brought him closer and only made his feelings grow.

It was actually a miracle for him to get the reality check of stepping back into Paladin duties. 

“Hey, Coran. We were wondering if we could be implementing more restrictions on the ground. Or doing anything really,” He said to the image of Coran on the communication device. 

Coran’s face scrunched up in thought and he twisted his mustache. “Yes, my boy. Some kind of stay-at-home order might be sufficient to slow down the spread of the virus until we can come up with a working treatment system.”

Keith came up behind him as they stood at the railing to the water outside their hut. “Any updates on that?”

Coran then looked solemn. “I’m afraid your Rivan friend isn’t looking very good. I believe she may have had a turn for the worse in the night. I do not know if she will be able to live much longer.”

Lance’s mood dropped with the news. He looked over his shoulder and saw just how distressed the news made Keith. 

“Is there anything you can do? Will the healing pods help?” Lance asked, desperately. He didn’t know Rosina, but Baraniss was their friend and he didn’t want to see her so devastated.

Coran shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The healing pods were designed for injuries. Viral infections are completely different. Chemically, the only way to help would be to boost the immune system’s antibody response. We’ve been trying whatever we can.”

Lance sighed. “Thank you for trying, Coran.”

“Oh, it seems as though the rest of the team would like to speak to you both,” Coran said, looking off camera. “I’ll get back to work on isolating the virus and checking your blood for anything suspicious to suggest you’ve contracted the virus.”

Coran swiped at his device, sending the feed to the main control room, where the rest of the team was gathered.

“Lance! Keith!” Allura exclaimed, looking relieved. “Are you both still alright?”

Keith nodded from behind Lance. “We’re okay. We haven’t come down with any sickness.”

“Yep! Right as rain, Princess,” Lance said, grinning. “How are things on your end?”

Shiro stepped up from behind Allura. “We’ve been contacting any neighboring systems if they recognize the symptoms of the virus and our contacts in the Blades don’t seem to recognize any of it either. At least the death rate. The symptoms seem to be similar to many other viruses across the universe to pinpoint an exact strain.”

“Yeah, I was kind of thinking it sounds similar to the Earth flu,” Lance said, nodding. “At least from what we’ve seen.”

Pidge piped up from her perching on the green Paladin’s chair with a laptop in her lap. “Exactly! I’m not as well-versed in organics but I’ve been working with Coran on isolating the virus. The human body works pretty similar to a computer when you think about it, so it’s not that different.”

“You think you can develop a treatment based on these other similar viruses? Time is kinda of the essence here,” Keith said, frowning. “Rosina and all the other sick Rivans could really use some help.”

“None of those other viruses even have cures yet,” Allura said, sighing. “We would only be treating symptoms again. I’m very sorry, but we can’t do that much until Coran analyzes the virus for a treatment catered to the exact strain.”

Lance gave a resigned smile. “It’s alright, Princess. We know you’re doing everything you can. In the meantime, we thought it’d be productive to do some investigating on who got the virus first and try to find a patient 0.”

Shiro looked impressed by the suggestion. “That could maybe help establish a rate of infection. Maybe narrow down possible strains.”

Pidge grinned, waving a hand from her seat. “Yes! Do that!”

Hunk nodded. “But, be careful? If you haven’t contracted the virus yet, we don’t want you both getting sick anyway.”

“Hunk’s right. Keep your interactions with anyone sick to a minimum,” Shiro said, pointing to the camera. 

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison. They started and locked eyes after, blinking. Lance chuckled and Keith smiled.

The team watched this interaction with confused glances, but no one said anything about it and Lance cleared his throat.

“Well, alright. Sounds like a plan. Call us when you guys got any more answers,” Lance said. “We’ll give you updates if anything changes on our end.”

Allura bowed her head once. “Be cautious. We all want you to be safe and healthy by the end of this. Not for Voltron, but because we are friends.”

Keith tensed next to him and Lance had to control himself not to reach and take his hand. 

Lance smiled at their Voltron family. “We’ll be careful. We promise. Talk to you guys later.”

He cut off the connection and turned to Keith, who was standing quite close and didn’t move out of Lance’s personal space.

“We’re worrying them,” Lance said, trying to distract himself on how comfortable Keith has become with being close to him.

Keith sighed and nodded, finally stepping back. “I know. Shiro’s going crazy, I can tell.”

Right, Shiro. Of course, Keith can tell something like that about him, they’ve known each other for years and it was obvious Keith was in love with him. 

Heartache.

Lance frowned. “We can’t do anything about it. It’s up to Coran and Pidge, now.”

Keith made an almost comedic pained face. “Our lives and the lives of all the people on this planet are up to the medical expertise of an Altean engineer that has been asleep for ten thousand years and a 15-year-old human computer geek?”

Lance closed his eyes, realizing the extent of how fucked they were. 

“Well, can’t do anything about it. Might as well help however we can.”

Keith knew that something was wrong with Lance.

He wasn’t sure how he knew. He didn’t know what it was, either. But, something told him something wasn’t right.

It might have been the expressions or the tone of voice, maybe the eyes. Keith knew Lance’s eyes very well and something has been clouding them. 

He didn’t know when it started but Keith noticed when they searched out Baraniss and her reaction to hearing about Rosina’s condition. There was more than just sympathy pain in his expression. 

Keith was still inexperienced with people and emotions, so this complex sort of feeling about Lance was a mystery to him. And it was incredibly distracting.

“Keith? Why have you been staring at me like that?” Lance asked as they sat in the council’s chamber with records scattered about.

They had contacted the chief about investigating the plague’s route of infection and they were only happy to oblige with their many records from the start over a year prior. It was a puzzle of who had come into contact with who/what and it seemed like they were only scratching the surface. And while Lance was absolutely taking it seriously and reading all of the records, putting together pieces of the puzzle, Keith had trouble focusing and kept zoning out.

It wasn’t his fault Lance seemed off.

Keith, embarrassed at being caught, immediately went back to reading the many papers. “I wasn’t staring.”

Lance lifted an unimpressed eyebrow at his obvious lie. “Yeah sure and I’m not a Paladin of Voltron. C’mon man, like I know I’m hot and everything but we should be figuring this out.”

Keith scoffed, although couldn’t stop the spread of pink on his neck and ears. “That’s not why I was staring!”

“Ha, so you admit you were staring. So, what gives?” Lance asked, looking triumphant.

Keith’s mouth dropped in shock, before groaning. “That wasn’t…ugh, whatever. It’s nothing, I was just zoned out.”

Lance smirked. “Yeah, I know. And staring at me. Which doesn’t answer the question.”

Keith glared daggers. “Nothing, I was just thinking.”

“Mm hmm,” Lance hummed, not believing a word. “Fine, don’t tell me.”

A few minutes of silence followed, with just a shuffling of papers around, before Keith broke. 

“Ugh, fine, I just…noticed something’s off with you and it’s been driving me crazy,” he said, reluctantly.

Lance looked up from what he was reading, with wide eyes.

“What?”

Keith shrugged, dragging a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what it is, but something feels wrong with you. And I don’t know how to ask about it or if I should.”

Lance blinked, looking almost frightened. This made Keith even more concerned.

“What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong with me. Of course, I’m not how I usually am, this isn’t exactly a fun situation,” he said, avoiding eye contact and nervously turning back to the paper.

Keith turned a critical eye on Lance’s behavior. “No, that’s not it. Something is bothering you beyond that.” 

Lance froze. “What are you talking about? I’m fine.”

Keith sighed. “Look, I know I’m not Hunk or Pidge. And I know you probably don’t trust me enough to talk about some stuff, I get it. It’s hard for me to talk about some stuff, too. I just know something has been bothering you and I can’t explain it. I want to help, if I can.”

Lance looked up from the paper, looking as though he were pained. 

“Hey, that’s not it, okay?” he said. “I do trust you. Absolutely. It’s just…hard to talk about. And it’s dumb. I’ll get over it, eventually.”

Keith frowned. “If it’s bothering you, it’s not dumb. Not at all.”

Lance looked even more pained at that. “Thanks, for you know. Caring about it. But, I really am fine.”

Keith pursed his lips. He should have known Lance wouldn’t want to talk about it with him. They weren’t actually that close. 

“Okay.”

Something was still wrong with Lance.

Lance felt guilty for how he responded to Keith’s adorable and completely surprising questions for his welfare. But, in his defense, how could he explain he was jealous? He knew that Keith was in love with Shiro and he wanted to be that person. He couldn’t tell him that.

He sighed for what felt like the tenth time that day, while on their lunch break in the council room surrounded by papers filled with absolute gibberish.

Yes, they had the translation module on their communication device and it allowed them to read the papers, yet it was mostly all medical jargon and Rivan names and he couldn’t keep track of anyone or anything.

Yuna paid them a visit as soon as she heard of their investigation to give them her own personal medical journals from the beginning of the outbreak. She also lent one of her assistant’s journals because they had worked closely before the virus took him too.

That journal was the worst to read, because he started to document his own symptoms and worsening effects. It became a diary for him at some point and it was quite upsetting to read the last pages of a man’s life.

“The chief wants to talk to me about something. I’ll be back later,” Keith said, jolting Lance out of his reverie. 

Lance nodded, although it was hesitant. “Just, be careful?”

Keith settled a complicated look on him, but nodded all the same and left out the door.

Lance sighed again after his departure and for added dramatic measure this time, groaned. 

The door opened again, but it was Baraniss who walked through. 

“Hero Lance, it is an honor to speak with you,” she said, looking as though solemn and downcast. 

“Hey, Baraniss!” He said, trying for more cheer. “Come in! Do you want some food? We’re taking a break on reading up on this.”

She seemed to show a strange turn of lips, maybe a smile? Before she nodded an agreement.

“I would be honored to eat with you,” she said, walking in and avoiding stepping on any documents. “How has the search been progressing?”

Lance sighed, yet again. “Slowly. It’s not easy to keep track of people being recorded. And the fact is some are dying without even being properly checked out, so it’s undetermined if it was the virus or something else. Not to mention those that have actually survived, but now seem to have breathing problems that aren’t going away.”

Baraniss nodded, taking a minute bite of her food. “It is a tragedy what has befallen my people. I weep for our descendants and our passed.”

Lance felt a pang of sympathy. Here he was, sad about some crush he had on a boy and Baraniss was dealing with the weight of all her people’s losses and her own lover catching it.

“I’m really sorry this has happened to you and your people, Baraniss,” he said, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You are good people with a beautiful planet. One of the most beautiful I have ever seen.”

Baraniss’ giant black eyes blinked and then crinkled with emotion in the corner. “We are blessed by your words, hero. I apologize that you have to suffer from it, as well.”

Lance shrugged, giving a friendly smile. “Oh, it’s not that bad, so far. Even though I am stuck with grouchy Keith.”

Baraniss let out a breathy whistle laugh from her gills. “What is a grouchy? Does that mean troubling?”

Lance hummed, considering her question. “Yes and no? He’s pretty quiet and a little bit angry sometimes. It’s hard to read him.”

She looked contemplative, tilting her head to the side. “I do not seem to have an issue ‘reading’ him, though. He is quite expressive. To be truthful, I have more difficulty understanding you.”

Lance furrowed his brows at that. “Really? I’m an open book. My sister used to say that I have a horrible poker face and would get cheated out in an instant.”

Baraniss looked completely bewildered by that and Lance nearly hit himself for forgetting he was talking to an alien, for Christ’s sake. 

“I mean I’m really easy to read, for most people. I’m used to my siblings knowing what I’m feeling before even I do. Keith is even able to figure me out. He was even able to know there was something wrong with me with all this going on.”

“There is something troubling you?” she asked, touching a webbed hand to his bicep.

Lance frowned. “It’s not important. You’re dealing with so much, here. My issues are not even on the same level.”

Baraniss sent a kind expression his way. “Perhaps not. But I owe you my people’s lives. If I can help you, it would bring me honor and joy.”

He smiled at her, just enough to communicate his gratitude. “Well, I don’t know. I’m having…feelings for Keith. And I just know he won’t ever feel the same.”

Baraniss hummed. “You love him?”

Lance nearly coughed at that. “Well, I…love is a strong word…it’s just a crush…or small attraction?”

She let out another whistle laugh. “Hero Lance, it is a gift to fall in love. The oceans bless you with a heart and soul.”

Lance sighed. “I…can’t though. Love him, I mean. He’s in love with someone else.”

Baraniss turned a confused and curious look to him. “Someone else? Are you positive?”

He nodded. “The way he talks about him. I just know it. And like I totally get it, you know? The guy he’s in love with is…basically perfect in every way. I’m nothing like him.”

She brought her hands together in thought. “I…understand. I am…truly sorry that you are hurting. Maybe if you spoke to Keith about it, even so? If nothing else, it can help ease your suffering enough for you to find another if you so wish?”

Lance snorted, unamused. “Yeah, because constantly moving out in space gives us so much time to date around. It’s okay, though, really. Of course, I’m sad about it, but some point I’ll get over it.”

He had to. For both of their sakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Baraniss so much, I never intended for an alien OC to get so many scenes, but something about her just called out to me and I want to write about her all the time.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are a bit more complicated now. We get one last fun trip that the paladins are going to be very grateful for.

“Implementing a stay-at-home order would destroy the last remnants of normal life here,” the chief said, looking forlorn. “I do not know if my people will be very glad to follow. And we need to have our workers on the farms or else we would run out of food.”

Keith nodded. “I understand, your Blessedness. This is only a suggestion from my team and I. Although, as it is, if things progress further than it is now, then you may not have any more people to follow you.”

She sighed, looking around at her council surrounding her. They were standing in a large room with a raised chair at the far wall across from the door, with pillows and council members sitting in a circle. There were 5 of them, not including the chief.

Keith sat on his legs in the middle of the circle. He was trying to convince them to shut down procedures that were still not essential to the basic run of the village, but as it turns out that wasn’t really any work that wasn’t considered essential by some means.

“Red Paladin, what say you about half days? In which the people stop work in the middle of the day?” one of the council members asked, looking as though he didn’t believe Keith at all. 

Keith frowned. “I’m not sure how effective that will be at stopping the spread of the virus. I’m only here as a messenger from the experts on my team in the castle above. I don’t know much about the medical side of this.”

One of the other council members pursed her lips. “Then why are you the one speaking to us?”

He almost glared at her tone. “I’m the one here, that’s why. Look, I’m just trying to keep your people alive. I understand your hesitation. But, from what we know about contagious diseases, the best method of control is to contain and limit exposure.”

The chief held up her hand to silence the other council members. “Red Paladin, I apologize on behalf of my council members’ tones. We all want what is best for our people. If your experts believe that issuing some form of a stay-at-home order is the best course of action, then we should follow that. Call in the chief herbalist. We have to discuss the methods.”

Keith bowed his head. “Thank you for listening to us.”

The council bowed their heads back, with the hands on either side of their fins. “May the oceans bless you.”

Keith exited the chamber and turned to Yuna outside the door.

“They need to talk to you about everything,” he said, sighing and rubbing his forehead.

“Are you well, Keith?” she asked, sounding concerned. 

Keith gave her a tired smile. “Yeah, just a small headache, that’s all.”

She frowned, settling her hands over his face. “Do you feel a pain in your chest? Any fever? Any dizzy spells? Trouble breathing?”

He sputtered at her sudden barrage of questions. “No, no none of that. Don’t worry, I’m not getting sick. It’s just stress, we’ve been working on an infection map all day long and I had to convince the council members to shut everything down. I’m not great with diplomacy.”

She nodded, looking placated, if not still cautious. “If you say so. I still suggest you take the rest of the day to yourself and Lance. Just in case you have contracted the virus.”

He shook his head. “I’m sure I’m not sick, for real.”

“Even so, you are our guests on this planet. You should treat this as a break from your usual Paladin duties. I am sure you have been needing one.”

He couldn’t argue with that. “Alright, you are the doctor here.”

She bowed her head. “Thank you for accepting my advice. I hope the rest of your stay here is peaceful.”

“Uh, yeah thanks,” he bowed his head back. There was so much bowing here.

“Lance is currently speaking with Baraniss in the meeting room you were using,” she said, pointing.

“Ah, right. Thanks.”

Keith set off and rubbed his head again, feeling like maybe he should take the rest of the day off. He wasn’t focusing anyway.

He came to the door and stepped in, stopping whatever conversation that Lance was having with Baraniss. Lance looked up quickly and smiled, still looking off.

“Keith, how’d it go?” he asked, glancing nervously at Baraniss.

Keith shrugged. “As well as it could. The council didn’t really trust me, but the chief overruled them and are putting a stay-at-home order into effect.”

Baraniss looked alarmed at that. “Truly? What will that do to our village?”

Lance laid a comforting hand on her. “They’re talking to Yuna to make sure they can figure out what people can still do the essential things like the food service and medical personnel. But from what we know from our team, the reason this has gotten so bad is because people have tried to ignore it and keep going as before.”

She pursed her fishy lips and then nodded slowly. 

Keith gestured around at the papers around. “Yuna said that we should give up on this for now and give them time to figure out the logistics of what they’re gonna do for a lock down.”

Lance sighed, relieved. “Oh, thank god this is so exhausting trying to keep track of everything.”

Baraniss hummed, excitedly. “Then shall we visit the underwater farms? Lance has informed me your expert Coran has confirmed that the waters are not poisoned!”

Keith hummed, considering it. “Yeah, we could. We would need to go back to our room to get our gear.”

Baraniss looked confused at this and cocked her head. “Why is that? We do not wear anything under the water and you are even less likely to be attacked.”

Lance made a noise at this, turning slightly pink. “Oh well, uh. We need our gear because we can’t breathe underwater and our helmets provide us oxygen. And, uh we like to be clothed anyway.”

Keith chuckled a little at Lance’s embarrassment and Lance glared. Baraniss was surprised, before nodding.

“Oh yes, I see! Yet, I know a way in which you won’t need your gear!” she said, sounding excited.

Keith and Lance exchanged curious glances before shrugging.

Neither could say no to her, it seemed.

It was basically a gillyweed plant like from Harry Potter. The inner nerd in Lance was basically vibrating with excitement when she explained it.

But now that they were staring at the pink kelp-like plant in their hands, he was feeling a little more nervous.

“Are you sure this would work on us? I mean we still aren’t the same species,” Keith asked, dubiously holding the plant up to examine it. 

Baraniss nodded. “Our younglings don’t develop their gills until a few years of life, but we still give birth underwater. The parent takes the plant the day of the birth and that gives the ability to breathe underwater to the youngling. It should still work for you.”

Lance pursed his lips, still feeling his nerves alight at the idea. He wasn’t one to underestimate aliens and their different ways of life, especially since seeing all kinds of usually impossible things in his months since coming into space.

“Well, alright then. How long does it take to…take affect?” he asked, sniffing the plant. It smelled like seawater and dirt. Made sense, he guessed.

“Should be almost immediately,” she said, leading them to the water and wading in. She had taken off her drapes and it made both Lance and Keith look away because of human propriety. 

Lance and Keith looked at each other again, both in just their swim trunks. Lance was going to have to get used to a very muscly Keith body during this whole thing, it seemed.

Such heartache.

Lance shrugged at him. “I’ll try it if you will.”

Keith gave a conflicted look. “Well, guess it probably won’t hurt?”

They both nodded, resolute and chewed their plants. The taste was close to just straight chewing seawater and had the texture of gummy worms for some reason. He swallowed, then felt a rush of nerves in his throat and chest.

He coughed, alongside Keith seeming to have a similar reaction. Lance gestured to the water, showing they should walk further in so that they could actually breathe.

Keith nodded, holding his throat and scratching at his chest.

The water was cool, but not cold. The feeling of his chest constricting got worse as they walked in after Baraniss, who had already disappeared into the crystal-clear water. When they reached the depth that their heads were the only parts of their bodies not submerged, Lance’s side of his neck started to spasm and he flinched at the feeling.

Then, their were long slits on each side and he sucked in a long stream of water. Instead of pain or his lungs rejecting it, it brought a cool relief to his body and just felt…right.  
He turned and smiled at Keith, who met his grin with a shocked expression of his own. Then they both submerged themselves entirely.

It was incredible to breathe underwater. It was nothing like anything he had experienced before. When he had been on that mermaid planet, it was fun to swim and see the oceans, but this was really something else. As though he were really a part of this new world and could finally be one with the ocean, something he had dreamed about since he was a kid on the beaches of Veradero. 

Lance pushed off his feet, doing an expert breaststroke towards where Baraniss was floating. Her nakedness didn’t seem anything other than right in the water, so he wasn’t bothered to meet anything other than her large black eyes.

She signaled to behind him and in turning, realized Keith was still shocked at being able to breathe and was lagging behind, putting a hand to his chest and looking at the surface. As though he didn’t believe that it would last longer than a few seconds and was nervous to go deeper than they were. 

Lance let out a jet of water through his gills, realizing he was trying to laugh.

He swam forward towards Keith, grabbing his attention. He reached out, grasping Keith’s hand on his chest and guided him along. 

Keith looked almost alarmed at the contact, before Lance nodded, encouragingly. Keith seemed to deflate in relaxation at this. 

They swam along together, hands clasped and the three of them set off deeper. The water was bright and blue, with sun beams cutting in to illuminate the salmon pink sand that continued below them. They started seeing Rivans, floating along, some alone and carrying baskets of what looked like produce and fruit, others just signaling to each other with hand signs. 

Lance realized there must be some kind of sign language they all know so they can still communicate underwater. The more Lance learned about this planet, the better it all seemed. He grinned, turning his head multiple ways to take it all in. 

Baraniss turned an amused gaze on him, swimming forward in front of him, then doing an impressive twirling technique, turning herself into a swimming torpedo, under them both and around them.

Lance watched the display with glee, clapping when came to float in front of them again.

She placed a hand on her cheek, looking a little embarrassed by his enthusiasm. 

Keith released his hand, nodding at her, to show he was glad to see everything as well. Lance grinned at Keith, invigorated by all the feelings he had under the water. He turned in place, then swam horizontally, sighing at the view of the surface. 

Lance thought if there were a sort of heaven on any planet, this would be it. 

Keith suddenly swam into view, just over him and blocking the sun’s rays.

Well, Lance guessed it’d be more accurate to say that the sun highlighted him from behind, his long hair waving out and framing his face. He was smiling wider than Lance had seen before, eyes looking giddy and adrenaline filled.

Lance had been wrong before. This was definitely Lance’s own personal hell.

He ignored the familiar heartache, reaching out and jokingly pushing Keith in the water, to which they ended up swirling around each other in a wrestling match. Baraniss ended up swimming away from them just far enough to stay out of their range. A few Rivans stopped and stared, wondering what the strange aliens were doing.

Neither paladin paid any of it any mind. They were having the last bit of unrestrained fun before the real lock down began and this was not going to go to waste. 

Lance ended up winning the match, with a tap out from Keith, looking slightly impressed. Lance was at home in the water. The ego boost in winning against Keith sustained him and put him over the moon. 

Baraniss clapped at his win and Keith shoulder bumped him before they set off again, faster and with more impressive swimming tricks. The path seemed more obvious now, as the sand below them was lined with rocks and there seemed to be structures here and there. They didn’t seem to be made of wood like above water, more like rocks shaped to be tables and chairs. 

Rivans were scattered about, floating lazily or using the tables as workbenches for different projects. Some were peeling fruits and vegetables, others using tools to build things that looked like more plates or cooking utensils.

The water still wasn’t that deep at that point, with sunshine still filtering through the surface. Baraniss continued on, with the two of them behind her, still looking around. A few Rivans noticed them, bowing their heads or waving at them as they passed. Lance grinned, shooting a few of the prettier Rivans a wink or two.

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance’s antics, but still looked slightly amused.

Lance wished they had some way to talk down there, as he desperately wanted to comment on everything going on. He ended up just patting Keith’s shoulder and pointing excitedly a lot. Keith looked as though he were interested in everything, too. 

Baraniss then gestured they turned into open sea again, them following behind. That’s where they came across the underground farms. 

The plants were in long rows, every color imaginable. Some were so unique, Lance wasn’t sure how to classify them with Earth color names. He gaped, actually stopping in his tracks and just floating, staring at the sight in full. 

Rivans were picking a few from the rows, examining the produce and then placing them in pouches or baskets. Barnaniss waved at a few, gesturing to the two paladins behind her, showing that she was guiding them on a tour. The Rivans nodded, one or two gave hand signs and she responded in kind.

Keith came to his side, looking just as in awe. Lance really wished he could talk, because he really wanted to hear what Keith had to say on this. They ended up just looking at each other, grinning then slowly floating forward and down to look at the plants more. 

Baraniss floated alongside them, pointing to some plants and picking a few produce off their stems. Lance took one from her, shrugging at Keith beside him. He took a bite and nearly spit it out immediately, because it was so spicy it burned his nostrils. He wasn’t unfamiliar with spice, it just surprised him. The produce looked close to a mango. 

Keith looked alarmed at his reaction, grabbing his hand. 

Lance swallowed, smacking his lips and using the cool water around to chill the spicy aftertaste. He gave Keith a wink, showing he was fine and offering the fruit in exchange. Keith shook his head, giving the fruit back to Baraniss.

The rest of the trip consisted of following Baraniss as she pointed at more plants and the two of them doing nothing more than nodding or examining the colorful sights. They continued until they started noticing their bodies feeling strange and it was harder to breathe. Baraniss nodded and they headed back in no time, stepping out of the water with baskets of fresh produce and a relaxed atmosphere. 

Lance was incredibly glad for this reprieve, just before everything on the planet went to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna add some angst tags and some more serious plot points, because when I started this it was just something to get my mind off things, but now things are actually changing in the real world and I don't want anyone to think I'm for irresponsible behavior. This is a global pandemic with a very serious high death rate and is highly contagious with no cure or treatment. Please follow any and all INFORMED guidelines, such as from the CDC or the WHO or other public health organizations. Stay safe! 
> 
> Also I will not focus on that side of things too much, there will just be a lot of dialogue and conversation and getting-to-know-you


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some disagreements, some advice and some apologies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally done with the semester, so I've got a lot of time now and I'm getting excited about the next few chapters.

Keith never liked the ocean that much. He had never actually seen the ocean on Earth before, but from what he had heard, it was salty and full of trash. The beaches were always full of people and mostly they were rude tourists and sand got everywhere no matter what you did. 

Plus, it was really only fun if you went with friends or family.

Keith was always short on those, so he just never bothered to try and see it. 

But, on Riveon, with Lance? He was sure he was never going to think of any negative about the ocean again. He would only think of bright, giddy crystal blue eyes and golden tan skin and a disarming smile. He would think of strangely spicy fruit and salmon pink sand highlighted from a lilac sky with two suns over them. He would remember a talented alien literally swimming circles around them that was so nice and sweet to him it made him forget about being known as a loner.

Here, he was someone different. He liked how he was on this planet. He liked how he felt on this planet. 

And in this moment, he actually forgot the exact work they were supposed to be doing on the planet while isolated.

“They left something on the door,” Lance said, the next morning after the trip to the underground farms. “All citizens must stay inside homes or away from other familial units until further instruction or unless specified for your essential duty to the order of the village. This is an order by her Blessedness with information given to us by the Paladins of Voltron. This is for the safety of the rest of the population of Riveon. May the oceans bless us all.”

Keith nearly smacked himself. He was a Paladin of Voltron. He shouldn’t be this irresponsible. It was possible they were both in serious danger.

“We never should have gone to the farms,” Keith said, sighing in frustration. “It just made us look like we didn’t take this seriously.”

Lance turned, shocked and vaguely hurt. “What? But, that was…one of the best experiences I’ve ever had! Did you not like it?”

Keith shook his head, rubbing his forehead. The headache never really went away. “Lance, we’re supposed to be on a mission, here. Even if it wasn’t meant to be this exactly. We’re Paladins of Voltron in the middle of an inter-galactic war here. None of this was meant to happen.”

Lance then let his expression morph itself into an icy glare. “Why do you keep acting like I’m forgetting that? Yes, I sure as hell know I’m a Paladin. I’m nothing but the guns and firepower of the greatest weapon against the biggest threat to the universe anyone has ever seen. And yet, here we are! Stuck on a random planet because we accidently fell into a plague of all things! Yeah, I feel like such a hero!” 

“Lance-,”

“No. You don’t get to turn that disappointed look on me,” Lance cut him off, even more angry. “Yeah, okay, maybe I was enjoying some semblance of a break on this planet from our horrible hellish lives before. Sue me. But, don’t you dare act like you’ve been all soldier, sword-ready samurai either. I deserve a goddamn break once in a while. And so do you.”

At that, he turned and went out the door, shutting it louder than he needed. Keith was left sitting in silence, staring at the bedding around him, thinking about what had just happened. 

Lance had a point, Keith hadn’t been the most focused since coming to Riveon. He couldn’t help getting swept away by…well, Lance. 

That was when he realized this was the first time he was apart from Lance for any reason other than duty calling. 

Keith always found himself short a friend or family when he needed.

Voltron is my family, too. That means you, samurai.

Heartache.

Keith decided to call the team for an update. Coran picked up after ringing a few times, his face looking tired and a bit pale.

“Ah, Keith, my boy! Where is Lance?” he asked, looking around on the screen.

Keith grimaced. “Uh, he’s out. Any updates?”

Coran’s curious look turned thoughtful. “Well, good new and bad news. Do you have a preference on what to hear first?”

Keith pursed his lips. “Give me the good news.”

Coran nodded, pulling up a holoscreen behind him. “Number 5 and I have managed to isolate the virus! We believe it a mutation on a Riveon-originated virus, turning it much more deadly and harder to treat. Since this discovery, we are able to create a suitable treatment and possibly a cure. Later on, there can be a vaccination developed to prevent future outbreaks!”

Keith nodded, following along thus far. “And the bad news?”

Coran then deflated, turning sad eyes on him. “I don’t believe we will be able to save your Rivan friend. She may not live through the night. It is best I think to get her partner to call us so that she can…say her farewells.”

That news was harder to hear than he realized. He thought of their new friend, how pure and lovely she was to them. He didn’t want to see her lose the person she loves most. It was going to destroy her.

“Keith, I hear that her partner is now your friend. I am truly sorry you have to do this. If it could help, I can suit up in a containment suit and fly down to the surface to tell her myself,” Coran offered, his face portraying sympathy and pain.

Keith considered for a second, but shook his head. “I should tell her. With…Lance. It’ll be easier for her to hear it from us. But, she may want to bury her on the ground. Could that be possible?”

Coran hummed, stroking his mustache. “It’s not advisable, however I will see what I can do. In the meantime, I am working on developing that treatment for the betterment of the rest of the Rivans. I believe it should be ready in three quintants time!”

Three weeks more of just sitting and waiting. Keith was sure he was going to go crazy after just four days. He then remembered something.

“Coran, what about me and Lance’s samples? Have anything come back positive as having the virus?” he asked, slightly nervous.

“Ah, yes,” Coran said, nodding. “I’m still not sure how to test the samples quite yet, however I may just get new ones soon, as I’m sure you have been in contact with more Rivans since. You may have been negative before, but now you are.”

Keith nodded. “Okay. We’ll just…stay here until we know for sure.”

Coran gave another sympathetic look. “I understand you may be frustrated at the situation, as are we. But, this is the only way to ensure that the rest of the team stays safe and we can help the Rivans overcome the outbreak.”

Keith nodded again. With all the nodding and bowing, he was starting to feel like a bobble-head. 

“Ah, it seems the team would like to speak with you,” Coran said. “I will update you as soon as I can. Good luck!”

He swiped the screen and suddenly he was seeing the bridge again. Everyone was assembled, each looking worse for wear. Especially Pidge, slumped in her seat with a glowering expression.

Keith felt a pang of guilt for being the cause of their worrying. 

“Hey, guys. Lance is out for the moment,” he said, addressing it before they got even more concerned. 

“Are you both still okay?” Shiro asked, arms folded and expression nothing other than serious. 

Keith gave his best attempt at a smile. “Yeah, we’re fine. It’s really nice and peaceful on the planet. Given the situation, we couldn’t have asked for a better place.”  
That gave the rest of them some peace of mind, as they all lost some tension in their stances. 

“That’s good,” Allura sighed. “I’m glad. Have you made any progress in research?”

Keith paused at that. “Uh, well we read a lot of documents, for sure. And there were a lot…of names…”

Hunk giggled at that. “Wait, are you telling me that Keith, the most serious and duty driven of Voltron, didn’t do his homework?”

He frowned at the screen as the rest of the team laughed. “Hey, we did do some research! It’s harder than it sounds! This is an alien planet with alien names and we aren’t trained in medical nonsense so it became to a huge jumble. It’s not our fault.”

Pidge finally had some energy, as she smirked at the camera. “This is all very fascinating. Because usually you’d be only focused on defending yourself, and yet, you’ve only been saying ‘we’ and ‘our’. And Lance isn’t even there to be mad that you left him out, so you’re just thinking about the both of you anyway.”

Shiro dropped his crossed hands, finally catching on along with Pidge. He raised an eyebrow at the screen, as Keith fumbled for an answer to that.

“I mean, well we were doing it together!” he said, feeling his face and neck get hot.

Shiro seemed to come to some conclusion. He stepped up to Allura, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“Could we have a moment?” he asked.

Allura looked at him, blinked and then nodded. “Alright, everyone out. Shiro needs to talk to Keith alone.”

Pidge’s smirk only widened. She didn’t say anything, only standing and leading everyone else out. 

Keith wanted very much to come up with some reason to end the call, because he very much didn’t like how Shiro was acting. But, this was Shiro and he couldn’t do that. After everyone was gone, Shiro only sighed and gave Keith an amused lilt of a smile.

“So, Lance?” was all he said, before Keith just groaned out loud.

“Please don’t do this, you look just like you did when you tried to give me the Talk and I’d like to never remember that moment again,” he said, incredibly embarrassed. 

Shiro barked a laugh. “Oh, yeah. That was Adam’s idea though, you can’t blame me for that. But, Keith. Lance is…very personable. Are you sure you’re not just getting caught up in the planet and Lance’s…personality?”

Keith gave a grim smile at that. He knew that thought process earlier sounded familiar. And then he realized something more.

“Shiro. I feel different. Like I actually feel like a different person. I don’t know, maybe I am getting caught up in everything. But, I don’t think so. I like this side of me. I like how I am with him,” he said, feeling even more embarrassed than he had before.

Shiro nodded, looking proud. “Listen, I know how you’re wanting to think right now. You want to think that you shouldn’t feel like this, because you’re a Paladin and you need to focus. And you’re right, to some extent. But, you’ve always forgot the first part of what I always tell you.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Patience yields focus.”

Shiro smiled. “And that extends to now. Be patient. Figure out yourself. You’re old enough to make your own decisions and if this is something you really want, you should go after it. You deserve a break once in a while.”

He nearly flinched at that. He needed to apologize to Lance. 

“Don’t condemn yourself to be miserable just because you don’t think you deserve to be happy when you have the chance. Trust me, I learned that the hard way.”

Keith sighed. “You’re right. As always. Thanks, Shiro.”

Shiro nodded. “And you know, I always thought you’d be cute with Lance.”

“Alright, that’s too much I’m ending this call, goodbye Shiro and I absolutely hate you,” he said, quickly cutting off the sharp laugh that followed.

His ears burned with embarrassment. Damn it.

Lance didn’t mean to be that harsh. It just came rushing out. The thought that Keith regretted the trip underwater made him sick and sad and the heartache that was constantly threatening to overwhelm him just came to a head and he just…snapped.

He needed to apologize.

But he made a very dramatic exit and now he was just pouting on the walkway around their little cabin. He moaned, sliding down and sitting with his legs out, staring at the blue water.

Lance was nothing if not stubborn. He already apologized for how he acted since the beginning of becoming a Paladin, his pride wouldn’t let him apologize again so soon.  
So, he just crossed his arms, petulantly. And continued to hate himself along with Keith.

He heard Keith started talking, as the house was still just thin wood. He figured he had called the team. 

It went on for a while and with every passing minute, Lance got more and more nervous. The dramatic exit worked in the moment, but now he just felt stupid and ridiculous. He should have been more focused on the mission, Keith had a point there. He should be there for the meeting. 

Keith stopped talking. Lance was basically vibrating with nerves. 

The door opened not a minute after, so he quickly arranged himself to look bored and cold to Keith. He rounded the corner, sighing in relief as he found Lance.

“Lance, we need to talk.”

Lance side eyed him, shrugging. “Fine.”

Keith nodded, coming up beside Lance’s extended legs and sat down, back against the railing. 

“I’m sorry,” Keith said, making Lance freeze in surprise. “You’re right. I didn’t mean what I said about going underwater. It was…incredible. I’m glad it happened. And you’re right about needing a break, too. We are in the middle of a war, but we don’t always have to act like it.”

Lance turned to look him in the eye, even more surprised. He didn’t know how to respond. 

He decided in the end, it was best to respond as honest as he could, so he ignored the stab in his pride. 

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have gotten that angry about it. You were right. I wasn’t focused. I got distracted by everything,” he said, sighing. 

He sucked in a large breath, nodding at the end. He reached out and offered a hand. “Truce?”

Keith stared at the hand for a second, then chuckled. Keith grabbed it and shook once.

“Yeah, truce.”

Lance smiled, knocking a knee against Keith’s in solidarity. “Look at us, already ending a fight just after it started. Shiro would be so proud.”

Keith laughed out loud. “Oh yeah, I’m sure. Glad I’m finally growing up or something.”

Lance found that answer to be a little odd, considering he was sure that Keith wanted Shiro to think he was the most mature of the team. 

“Did you get any updates?” Lance asked, looking for actual information.

Keith deflated and turned solemn. “Coran wants us to get Baraniss to say goodbye to Rosina. He doesn’t think she’ll last the night.”

Bad news. Heartache.

Lance closed his eyes shut tight. He nodded, then gathered himself to the next part.

“So, what else?” he asked, turning back to Keith’s concerned face.

Keith took a deep breath. He explained what else happened in the call. It seemed like a short explanation for how long he was talking.

“Nothing else?” Lance persisted, confused. Keith wasn’t telling him something.

Keith turned suspiciously pink. “Shiro talked to me alone for a bit. About just…some stuff. Nothing important.”

Lance understood. Ah, yes. Heartache. 

They sat in silence for a while, contemplating their next move. They couldn’t spend the day outside, as that would be in very bad taste considering they were the reason the Rivans couldn’t do that. But neither wanted to run to Baraniss and give the news that her lover was going to die. 

Lance had an idea. It could spell a lot of trouble, but he wanted to know for sure.

“Wanna play 20 questions?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally going to get some talks and some fun revelations.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 20 questions and we finally kick a bad misunderstanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao, guys I'm on a roll here so I'll probably pump out like 4 or 5 chapters this week. Consistent update schedule? I don't know her my ADHD has taken the wheel, fam

Lance was sure that this was the biggest risk he had taken since coming into space. 

He was a bundle of nerves, so he started slow and easy.

“20 questions?” Keith asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion. “What’s that?”

Lance nearly moaned at how cute Keith’s cluelessness was. 

“We take turns asking each other questions until we get to 20,” Lance explained. 

Keith looked even more suspicious. “What kind of questions? Anything?”

Lance shrugged, smirking. “If you want it to be fun, you can get into pretty juicy stuff. I think it’ll be interesting, since we still don’t know that much about each other. Plus, what else are we gonna do?”

Keith hummed, considering it. “Okay, fine.”

Perfect. “Alright, then I’ll start with something easy. Favorite animal? Oh, I guess gotta be specific to favorite Earth animal.”

Keith looked unimpressed. “Really? That’s important?”

Lance shrugged again. “Humor me.”

Keith snorted. “Fine, hippos. You?”

That actually stopped all thought process. “Wait, hippos? As in giant water animals that can kill you by chomping you in half?”

He smirked. “The very same.”

Lance let out a loud, surprised laugh. “Why? Why everything on Earth?”

Keith shrugged. “Well, they’re pretty unassuming. Just big, slow and kind of stupid swimmers but turns out they’re one of the most dangerous animals on Earth. Plus, they’re still pretty cute.”

Lance was even more surprised by the answer why. “Well, that’s actually pretty unexpected. Already learning interesting things about you, samurai.”

Keith laughed. “There was another reason, though. When I was a kid, a carnival came to my town. My dad miraculously had work off that day and so we went. It’s one of my favorite memories of him, because he was doing everything for me. He didn’t look sad or lost once, it was just me and him, having fun. At some point I got it in my head I wanted to win a stuffed animal at one of the shooting games. And well, you know how bad a shot I am.”

Lance snorted. “Yeah, the one time I’ve seen you with a gun was the biggest ego boost I’ve ever had.”

Keith playfully glared. “I’m a close combat fighter, alright? Shooting just isn’t my thing. But, I was a kid and wanted to win, but I just couldn’t. My dad, however, was the kindest man on Earth because he just said ‘Don’t worry, son. Let me handle this for you.’ And he got the biggest prize the very first time. Which just happened to be a gigantic blue hippo stuffed animal.”

Lance let a genuine smile come over his face. This was the Keith he wanted to see more of. 

“That is adorable and I love it,” Lance said, giggling. 

Keith grinned. “I’ll let that slide, but you’ve gotta tell me your favorite animal.”

Lance nodded. “Fair enough. It’s cats.”

Keith looked surprised at that. “Really? I’d expect it to be like dolphins or sharks or something.”

Lance laughed, lifting a shoulder. “Those are pretty cool. But, when I was a kid, my big sister Veronica came home one day with a tiny, shivering kitten. It was gray with huge blue eyes. She told me that she had found the kitten out in the rain. No mother in sight. We figured abandoned. So, we raised her. Named her Kiera because we were both basically in love with Kiera Knightley at the time. We hid her from our parents and raised her in an old doghouse in the backyard.”

Keith seemed even more surprised by that. “Seriously? Did your parents not like cats or something?”

Lance shrugged. “We were worried that adding a cat would have stressed them out even more. 6 kids isn’t easy for anyone.”

Keith hummed, understanding. “So, what happened to Kiera?”

Lance laughed, again. “Of course, we were found out pretty fast. We weren’t the sneakiest of kids. Papi was actually excited to find her, thought that she had taken up residence in the doghouse on her own, but Mami knew immediately that one of more of us had to have been feeding her and keeping her warm. Veronica took the blame the most, as she was older but that was how we just took in the cat as our own. But, those few weeks at first where we took care of her ended up where Kiera really only trusted the two of us entirely. She’d only sleep in our rooms and would only greet us with excited meows and purrs when we got home.”

Keith smiled. “I bet you loved that.”

Lance snorted. “I love special attention, so yeah I was pretty stoked about it. Plus, there’s something so adorable and special about having a distrustful animal take a liking to you. It’s like you’re chosen by some higher authority to be loved by this one animal. Ever since, I’ve just been really drawn by standoffish animals.”

“In other words, cats?” Keith finished the idea. 

Lance nodded. “When a dog likes you, it’s not that impressive, because dogs like almost anything. But, a cat? That’s when you know you have a good personality and aura.”  
Keith shrugged. “I never had a pet, so I can’t say for sure which I’d prefer. But, I think I’d just end up liking dogs more. They’re more useful.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Of course, you’d think that way. Always the pragmatist.”

They both laughed at that. The ache in Lance’s chest almost eased.

“Alright, you choose the next question.”

Keith hummed, thoughtful. “Okay. Favorite constellation from Earth’s galaxy.”

“Oh, interesting. You’re already pretty good at this,” Lance said, grinning. “And an easy one, Hydrus.”

“Ah, yes. The male water snake, I can see that,” Keith said, nodding. 

“And you?” Lance asked, tapping his hand against Keith’s calf. “The greatest space pilot of our generation?”

He scoffed. “Stop calling me that. It feels like you’re making fun of me, now.”

Lance laughed. “Fine, fine. Now, go on.”

“Hercules,” he answered. “Classic hero story.”

“Classic, for sure. Very respectable,” Lance agreed, nodding.

“Alright, next?” Keith said, waving it along.

Lance then wondered if this was the time to take the risk. “First celebrity crush?”

Keith cringed. “Oh, I don’t know, this one is so embarrassing.”

He waited, giving an expectant stare. Keith groaned, cringing harder.

“Fine, I went through a hardcore Zac Efron phase.”

Lance blinked for a second, before bursting into laughter. “What? Really?”

Keith rolled his eyes, shoving Lance over, in which he just laughed harder on his side. 

“Quit it! He was really hot! And I have some kind of weakness for….tanned…boys,” Keith said, even more embarrassed. 

Lance stopped entirely at that. Shiro wasn’t that tan. And definitely wasn’t that type. He straightened, turning a curious gaze on him. 

“What about now? Is that your type?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Keith went nearly crimson at that question. “You haven’t answered it yourself, yet. What about your first celebrity crush?”

Lance shrugged. “Natalie Portman in Star Wars. Followed very closely by both Kiera Knightley and Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Keith nodded. “Oh, yeah Orlando Bloom was a big one for a bit for me, too.”

“He’s not that tan,” Lance said, smirking. 

Keith avoided eye contact. “But, he is really pretty.”

Hot, sexy is definitely what comes to mind when Lance thought of Shiro. Possibly rugged or a demanding presence. Not tan or pretty.

Lance was bursting to just ask if Keith was in love with Shiro. He may have been completely sure before, but this entire conversation was confusing him. He held himself back, though. 

He hummed, gesturing to move along. “Alright next?”

Keith pursed his lips in thought. “The food you miss the most from Earth.”

Lance didn’t even have to think. “Mami’s garlic knots.”

Keith nodded, understanding. “Mine’s ramen noodles.”

Lance furrowed his brows. “Like the packaged kind?”

Keith shrugged. “I didn’t have a lot of choice in the desert. Plus, there was something comforting about how familiar it was. The foster homes always had ramen and it always tasted the same.”

Lance nodded, accepting that answer. “Alright, next question. Least favorite thing people would say when they found out where you came from.”

Keith’s eyebrows jumped in surprise. “As in when they found out I was an orphan? Well, I guess it bothered me the most whenever people would just avoid the topic altogether. It felt like my whole existence was uncomfortable for them, so when they just switched topics it was like they were ignoring me.”

Lance hummed, nodding. “When people found out I was from Cuba and from a huge family too, I hated when they immediately assumed they knew me and my personality based on stereotypes. My parents decided they wanted a big family because they loved the idea of all their kids being best friends and just wanted it that way. It had nothing to do with Cuban culture or religion or anything. But, people would just assume I was some Spanish lover-type and thought I would steal their girlfriends or something.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Well, you are a pretty big flirt as I’ve seen.”

Lance smiled. “Okay, yeah you got me there. I might fit some stereotypes, but that’s just who I am. Not my fault. Plus, my oldest brother is the exact opposite. Yet, we’re still from the same place and even same family. It’s not like people would think that much if we were white. They would just say, ‘that’s their personality’ but for us? It was expected.”

Keith nodded, understanding. “Seeing as how me and Shiro are both part Japanese, I get it. That’s a whole different story that people wanted me to be better at school or smarter with books. Shiro hated it even more, because the worst thing for him was people thinking he was weak.”

Lance paused, wondering if he should mention this. “I heard…rumors. At the Garrison. About Shiro and his…condition?”

Keith made eye contact, with a complicated look. He seemed to think something through and then sighed. “He had gotten a diagnosis of a degenerative disease. A sort of muscular dystrophy. It affected his strength and he was in pain sometimes. By the time of the Kerberos mission, he figured he only had a few more years left of full strength. Or most of it, at least. He decided to go ahead on the Kerberos mission, spending those last years in space rather than…”

Lance waited, expecting more to the story.

Keith gave him a sad smile. “Rather than with the love of his life on Earth.”

Lance blinked, letting the words wash over him. He let himself understand them, then realized what it all meant.

“Shiro…has someone? On Earth?” he asked, dumbstruck.

Keith nodded, chuckling at Lance’s expression. “Is it really so surprising?”

Lance shook his head. “No, no it’s not that. I just wondered if…well, you talk about him like…and I just thought maybe you two…”

It was Keith’s turn to look dumbstruck. “Wait, you thought….me and Shiro?”

A few seconds passed where they both let the situation make itself clear, before Keith was laughing out loud. 

“How could you think…seriously? I knew him when I was like twelve! That’d be like dating like my dad or brother or something!”

Lance was an idiot. An absolute fool. A buffoon, if you will. 

“Well, how was I supposed to know! You’re gay and you obviously are really close to him! Plus, like you talk so much about him! I just thought maybe…” he shrugged, unable to finish the thought.

“Come on, you talk about your family, too! That’s what he is to me. Family,” Keith said, shaking his head. 

Lance crossed his arms. “Okay, fine. I was wrong.”

Keith continued laughing under his breath. “Ugh, I can’t even imagine it it’s so wrong.”

Lance glared, shoving him over in response. They shoved each other back and forth, laughing together now.

“So, what happened with that someone Shiro has on Earth?” Lance finally asked.

Keith paused for a moment. “His name’s Adam. Shiro told him what he decided to do, going on the Kerberos mission and Adam felt like Shiro was choosing space over him. With his last few years at full strength, he was choosing to leave.”

Lance hummed. “I see. But, Shiro doesn’t seem to be having any trouble anymore. Did the Galra fix it?”

Keith shrugged. “Shiro seems to think so.”

Lance thought about it. “So, are they still together?”

Keith shrugged again. “We both have no idea. We’re both just waiting to see if we get back to Earth and what happens then.”

Lance then froze, as things made sense to him. Keith wasn’t in love with Shiro. So, could he possibly have a chance?

“Alright, well that question kind of went off track, but very enlightening stuff,” Lance said, chuckling. “Sorry about, I don’t know. Assuming things, I guess.”

Keith breathed out another puff of laughter. “It’s fine. Shiro would definitely feel weird about it if he knew, though. He still calls me ‘kiddo’.”

Lance cringed visibly. He so got all that wrong. “Oh, god. Yikes.”

Keith shook his head. “Yeah, so not what it is between us. He’s completely not my type, anyway.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “And that’s tan and pretty?”

Keith went slightly pink. “Maybe. What’s yours? Anything that walks?”

Lance let out an indignant noise. “That is a bisexual stereotype and I detest it. I like pretty people, too. It’s not my fault I think a lot of people are pretty.”  
Keith smirked. “You still don’t have to flirt with every single one.”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe not. But, if I don’t, I may miss the love of my life! I can’t have that happen!”

Keith scoffed. “Oh yeah, I’m sure Nyma was in the running for the love of your life.”

“Hey! One time! One time I flirt with a back-stabbing space pirate and none of you let me live it down, huh?” Lance said, pouting. 

Keith laughed, completely at Lance’s expense. 

He didn’t have it in him to be mad at him, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that is satisfying enough to get that part out of the way. It made me sad when I wrote Lance thinking Keith was in love with Shiro, so I decided to correct that before we head off to deal with Baraniss' meeting with Rosina. Grab some tissues, folks. We about to get into some very sad territory.
> 
> Also note: I really don't mind Sheith, it just isn't my cup of tea and I prefer a familial bond between them


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk to Baraniss and Lance learns some new interesting things about Keith

They eventually tabled the 20 questions, not even remembering how many questions they had gotten through. Keith finally pointed out they needed to go see Baraniss so that she could call Rosina. That sobered Lance up right away.

“Should we bring her something?” Lance asked, looking around their little shack. “To make her feel some better?”

Keith thought about it. “Do we really even have anything?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe something alien would be interesting enough for her. I think I have a book in my bag.”

“Oh, wait. I have an idea, I think,” Keith said, putting a finger up to demonstrate having an idea. “But, it’ll take me a bit of time to make. I could give it to her later.”

Lance cocked his head. “You’re going to make it?”

Keith felt a bit embarrassed at showing Lance his long-neglected hobby. “I’ll show you what I mean after seeing Baraniss.”

Both of them were solemn as they set off. Keith knew that Rosina was dying and he knew just how much their new friend loved her. So, it felt as though they had failed them both by not being able to do anything.

The bridges were deserted as they weaved their ways to Baraniss’ house. At least the Rivans were respecting the new stay-at-home order. 

They stopped at the door of Baraniss’ house, hesitant. Keith decided he wanted it to come from him, so he breathed in and knocked.

The door opened after a few moments of silence, to reveal a curiously blinking Baraniss.

“Paladins! What do I owe this honor?” she asked, seeming happy to see them.

Keith glanced at Lance, who deflated at how sweet and happy she sounded. She didn’t deserve what they were about to tell her.

“Baraniss, we need to tell you something,” Keith said. 

She seemed to understand, as her eyes widened in horror. She cleared her…gills? Before gesturing for them to enter.

They entered and Baraniss sat on a chair by her wardrobe, steeling herself for the news.

“Is it Rosina?” she asked, quiet and shaky.

Keith closed his eyes at the change in tone, feeling guilty even more. “I’m really sorry. Coran told me she doesn’t have that long left. He’s offered to give you time on a video call to…say your goodbyes.”

Lance walked forward and squatted next to where she sat. He showed her the communication tablet.

“You can call by pressing this button. Coran will probably answer and you can introduce yourself,” he explained, showing it on the tablet. “We’ll give you some privacy while you talk to her.”

Baraniss sucked in a breath through her gills. “I understand.”

They both hesitated, but then exited through the door and gathered against the railing. They sat in silence, then flinched in unison when they heard Baraniss start to speak and heard her crying.

“I wish they built these things a little more thick,” Lance said, quietly. 

“It’s a wonder why they haven’t. Didn’t she say these are for…” Keith said, just slightly amused.

Lance snorted. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

Keith flinched again, when he heard Baraniss start to sob. Lance cringed, glancing behind him at the house. 

“I hate this,” Lance whispered. “She’s so sweet and in love. And this is what happens?”

Keith didn’t respond, just shook his head. It was fucked. 

Baraniss was still talking, but it sounded as though she were struggling through her sobs. Keith actually felt pain in his chest at the sounds. Lance seemed to notice, as he reached and wrapped his hand in his own.

Keith froze, then relaxed. He turned his hand around and weaved their fingers together. 

“Kiera passed away pretty soon after I went to the Garrison,” Lance said. Keith turned and looked at him, waiting for the rest. Lance’s expression was guilty and sad. “I knew she was getting older, but apparently when I left for the Garrison, she stopped eating. The vet said it was stress and other things. Veronica had left for a different school just before I did, so she lost both of us.”

Keith stepped closer to Lance, offering comfort. 

Lance gave a grateful smile. “I know that it’s not even close to losing a spouse or anything. But this reminds me of it. I wasn’t able to go home for that, so I was just left grieving on my own. She can’t even see Rosina in person for this.”

Keith looked out to the water. “When I heard that the Kerberos mission was lost, I was just passing through the Garrison lounge area. I happened to see the broadcast. It was like the world crashed down around me. I ran out the door, out in the desert and just screamed.”

The memories of the days that followed washed over him. More pain and loss was the first thing that came to mind. 

Lance squeezed his hand in solidarity. 

Keith sighed. “Do you know what happened that actually got me kicked out of the Garrison?”

Lance hummed, thoughtful. “There were a lot of rumors. The craziest I heard was something like you slept with a teacher or something.”

Keith spat out a sharp cough. “What the hell? Really?”

Lance shrugged. “I didn’t know what to believe considering I never really knew you that well. But, even that was too much for me.”

Keith shook his head. “It was barely a week after the Kerberos mission was lost. I finally got back to class, but completely bombed the simulator. Iverson chewed me out and then said something about how I could be the cause of another tragedy. It sounded as though he was blaming Shiro. Then I punched him.”

Lance was silent for a moment, then let out a quiet string of laughter. Keith turned and raised an eyebrow at the reaction.

He shook his head, trying to stop the laughter. “Okay, yeah I know it’s not funny. But, like just imagining Iverson’s face at that…”

Keith felt himself chuckle. “It was a little funny. But, of course I got kicked out.”

Lance nodded. He settled further on the railing with his arms. 

“I hate that we couldn’t do anything to help Rosina,” he said, cringing again as the sobs got louder.

Keith agreed. This whole situation was in the beginning to help the Rivans live, yet the one they wanted to help the most isn’t going to live through it.

The door suddenly opened, making both of them jump and they realized they were still holding hands and they separated, both turning slightly pink.

Baraniss was wiping tears from her face and handed back the communication tablet to Lance.

“Thank you for giving me that opportunity to say farewell to my love,” she said, croaky and shaking. 

Lance’s face crumbled in despair at her state. “Baraniss, I’m so sorry we couldn’t do more.”

She sniffed through her gills and nodded. Keith stepped forward, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“We’re here if you need us, okay?” he offered. “We’ll leave you alone for now so you can grieve in peace.”

She nodded, but laid a shaking hand against her fin and bowed.

“Thank you for trying to save Rosina. She said she appreciated everything you have done for us both. She told me that when she returns to the oceans she will bless you and your team. I owe to do the same when I see her again at the end of my life,” she said, tears leaking out again.

Lance let out a few tears as well. Keith wasn’t sure the last time he had cried, but he wondered if he would start before the end of the conversation. 

They said their goodbyes and walked back with a heavy aura around them, Lance still crying every so often.

“That was…really hard,” Lance said, finally. He wiped away the rest of his tears.

Keith wasn’t expecting to deal with a sad Lance as well, so he was at a loss as to what to do.

“I think it was that last thing she said about what Rosina said about us that got to me,” he continued, sniffling pathetically. “I just wasn’t expecting something so heartfelt from Rosina, too.”

They reached their little house and settled back on the bedding, emotionally drained from the experience. Keith didn’t expect what happened, either. He felt totally unworthy of their praises or thanks.

“I feel guilty they thanked us that way,” Keith finally said, sighing out loud. “I don’t feel deserving. I promised we’d try to help and we just sat around as Rosina suffered.”

Lance nodded. “I get what you mean. Completely useless. Why couldn’t this just have been another fight or something? I want to shoot something, again.”

Keith tsked. “I want to hit something, too.”

They both sat, realizing what they said. 

Lance frowned. “We really aren’t good for much other than fighting, huh?”

Keith sighed, crossing his arms. “Well, in our defense that is our main duty out in space. But, I guess we could look into other talents while we’re still stuck here.”

“Oh, wait, didn’t you say you were going to make something for Baraniss? What are you going to make? Like a knife or something?” Lance asked, seeming suspicious.

Keith scoffed. “No! I was going to draw her something!”

Oops. He’s getting way too comfortable just saying whatever to Lance, because that came out without him meaning to.

But, the damage was done, as Lance gaped. “Wait? Draw? You can draw?”

Keith sighed. He reached over to his bag of stuff, where he knew Shiro would have left his drawing supplies. He fished out his sketchbook and reluctantly gave it to Lance. He usually wouldn’t want anyone to look at his sketchbook, but he wanted Lance to know he was telling the truth.

Lance gingerly took the sketchbook, warily. “Are you sure?”

Keith shrugged. “It’s okay if it’s you.”

Lance turned strangely pink, but opened it and nearly dropped it in surprise. 

“Woah! You drew these?” he asked, seeming to forget that he was supposed to be hesitant anymore. He flipped through the pages.

Keith turned red and felt more and more nervous with every passing second. Lance continued staring at all the drawings. 

“It’s just a hobby I picked up from my dad. He drew a lot of constellations and stuff, so I started, too. Ended up really liking it, so I just kept doing it and drawing other things,” he said, clearing his throat in embarrassment.

Lance grinned at the portrait he had done of the team and lions behind them. “This is so cool! How come you’ve never shown the team this?”

Keith shrugged. “It just didn’t seem important, I guess. Plus, some of my sketches are kind of…private.”

Lance stopped on a very detailed portrait he had done of Lance, which made Keith start to freak out. He thought that sketch was in his other sketchbook he keeps under his mattress.

“Oh, that-um, it was just something I did after training. I thought your…stance was really good and I wanted to uh, practice figure drawing,” he said, fumbling over his words for an excuse. 

The drawing was Lance, expression serious and focused, with his signature blue paladin gear and bayard at the ready. The hair was swept away from his face, with sweat beading down the sides of it. It was one of the only sketches he had colored in, with the golden skin glistening and gear slightly scratched up.

So, yeah maybe Keith got a bit carried away with that one. Lance looked cool in that moment, alright?

Lance hadn’t said anything, just stared at it with an unreadable expression.

“Listen, it’s really not that big of a deal,” Keith was definitely freaking out now. “It was a slow day and I felt like I had pulled something so I was taking it easy so I wouldn’t hurt myself. I thought drawing would take my mind off things.”

Lance just lifted his eyes from the paper.

“Could I have this?”

Keith stopped, blinking stupidly at the question. “Huh? What? Have?”

Lance’s face split into a wide, awed grin. “Keith, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I want it. Like to frame it or something, holy shit, man.”

Keith’s heart skipped a beat. “You don’t think it’s weird?”

Lance shook his head, grabbing Keith’s shoulder. “Are you kidding? You thought I looked this badass? I’m on cloud 9, dude. Like shit, this is so awesome!”

Keith let out a shocked laugh. “Oh, uh, well okay, yeah you can have it, I guess.”

Lance fist pumped, whooping. “Oh, dude. Do you have other sketchbooks? I want to pay you to draw something like this again.”

Keith almost wanted to giggle like a schoolgirl. “I was thinking that I could draw our little trip underwater. Maybe I could draw you as a merman or something.”

Lance whipped his head around. “Wait, tell me you’re serious right now. Because it’d be cruel to dangle merman me in front of my face and snatch it away.”

Keith hadn’t been serious but at that reaction, he really did want to draw it. “I totally can. I could use some practice with underwater lighting. It’s pretty hard to get right.”

Lance grabbed Keith by both shoulders. “Dude, you’re making my entire life with this, you’re so goddamn cool.”

Keith was beginning to feel overwhelmed with how well Lance took to his dumb drawings. 

“It’s really not that impressive, though?” he said, even more embarrassed. “It’s just a hobby.”

Lance frowned and turned a few more pages to land on a sketch he’d done one night when he’d been up late on the viewing deck and drew the alien galaxy they could see.

“This is just a hobby? Come on, I’d kill to be able to draw like this! This is incredible!” he said, strangely insistent.

Keith burned with embarrassment. “Well, I thought I could draw Rosina for Baraniss. I noticed no one really has pictures here.”

Lance grinned, almost proud. “You’re a genius.”

Keith actually giggled out loud. He was so gay for this boy, it was ridiculous. At some point during this enforced quarantine, he was for sure going to burst from how much he felt.

“Thanks? I guess?” he responded, still off-kilter from the whole thing.

Lance flipped through a few more pages, eyes widening at another portrait Keith had done of Allura. 

“Dude, this is gorgeous! How are you so…ugh talented and amazing at literally everything its like completely not fair,” he groaned out.

Keith shook his head. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re really talented and amazing at a lot of things, too.”

Lance set a disbelieving eye on him. “Nothing like this, though.”

Keith shrugged, finally taking his sketchbook back. “Well, I don’t know. I just like doing it. You don’t have anything that you do because you like it?”

Lance hummed, thoughtful. “Well I guess I do like a few things. I like singing. I used to play guitar, too.”

Keith had never had that image in his head before, but now there was that idea, he desperately wanted to see Lance’s long fingers over guitar strings and could even imagine his low melodic voice singing out in Spanish.

“Really? Why’d you stop?” Keith asked, voice suspiciously compromised by the image in his head. 

Lance shrugged, laying back against the bedding on the ground. Keith settled with his back against the wall, opening his sketchbook to a new page and fishing out the rest of his art supplies that Shiro gathered from trips to space malls and swap meets.

“I went to the Garrison, got focused on piloting. I guess I just didn’t like it enough to pursue it, so I didn’t think it was worth continuing it anymore,” he explained, wistful look on his face. “But, back when I was in Cuba with the family, wow. Now that was some magic whenever we’d all get together and sing or play. My brother and I would play and Mami and Veronica would lead the songs. With all of us together, it was just so beautiful.”

Keith could see the scene Lance was describing. With a picket fence overlooking a beach, the entire McClain family out in the backyard, with a younger Lance and a boy that looked like him with guitars and the rest of the family singing. Maybe there would be ocean sounds in the background and wide smiles. Maybe there would be dancing and laughter.

It would be family. It would be beautiful.

Keith wanted to draw that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I had a shred of artistic talent I'd draw those sketches, but alas, I'm not gifted in that area at all
> 
> Also the next chapter is super sad and I cried writing it so prepare for that


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys bond even more and are cute. Baraniss and Rosina definitely deserved better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all this hurt like a MOTHER to write. I hate myself doing it. I sobbed like a baby.
> 
> Warning: minor character death and grief

The rest of the day they just hung out together, talking about their hobbies and their favorite memories as kids. Lance had never seen Keith so relaxed and open before. They were having a genuine connection and weren’t tiptoeing around topics at all. 

Lance realized in the middle of their conversations that this wasn’t a small crush at all.

He was pretty sure he was falling in love with the boy.

Could you blame him after that drawing he’d found? 

His eyes kept straying back to the drawing tucked away in his bag. It was carefully placed so as not to crease or rub off the markings from the alien colorings. 

They had settled back into the now evening, Lance reading a book he’d found on the communication tablet and Keith pensively sketching away. It was adorable and domestic and he felt completely at ease. 

“What’s your book about?” Keith asked after a little while. 

Lance nearly moaned at how much he just wanted to stay in this moment. 

“It kind of reminds me of a weird Altean version of Harry Potter?” he said, wondering exactly how to explain it. “It seems as though it’s a fantasy. Except I don’t know for sure, because if Allura and Coran can use magical quintessence maybe all Alteans can? But, these Altean kids are sent to a school where they learn magic and sorcery. The main character is really annoying, though. He keeps on getting distracted by everything. I can barely follow along.”

Keith chuckled. “That sounds like someone else I know.”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “Hey now, I’m not nearly as bad as this kid. He doesn’t even see his best friend is head over heels about him.”

“Oh yeah? Must be so frustrating,” Keith said, tone sarcastic. “Couldn’t even imagine it.”

“You know I would usually shove you, but you’re drawing and I don’t want to mess it up so I’m just going to settle on glaring,” he said. 

Keith grinned, glancing at Lance to confirm. “So, do you like the book or not?”

He shrugged, turning back to pick up where he left off. “I’m okay with it. Makes me a bit nostalgic and wish I could re-read Harry Potter, though.”

“Ah, yeah I get that,” Keith said, laughing a little. “I actually started drawing people the first-time drawing Harry Potter fanart.”

Lance dropped the tablet in shock at that. “Seriously? Oh my god, that’s amazing. What did you draw?”

Keith cringed. “Mostly a lot of Harry/Draco slash. It was so embarrassing. I had a thing for the bad boys at the time.”

He laughed, loudly. Just imagining a pimply 13-14 year old Keith drawing a slash fanart in the privacy of his room. 

“I love that so much,” Lance said, still laughing. “You are full of surprises, samurai. So soft and sweet.”

Keith playfully glared. “Yeah, alright now, sharpshooter.”

Lance felt a skip in heartbeat whenever Keith called him by his nickname. 

“You know, we never finished 20 questions,” Lance said, continuing his reading.

“What question were we on now?” Keith asked, frowning at his drawing for some reason. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, before erasing something and redoing it. 

Lance was seeing all kinds of sides of Keith. He loved every single one.

“I have no idea. We can just start from the beginning,” Lance said. “I think it was your turn.”

Keith looked skeptical. “No, I’m pretty sure it was your turn.”

Lance didn’t remember. “Alright, I’ll start. What Hogwarts house did you think you were?”

“Ah, that was pretty interesting for me. I took the quiz and it put me in Gryffindor, but I always wanted to be Slytherin. I thought it was cooler,” he said, laughing a little. “But as I got older, I’m pretty sure it was right.”

Lance nodded. “Oh yeah, that’s accurate for sure. The quiz put me in Ravenclaw, but I’m like 99% sure I’m a Gryffindor.”

Keith hummed, looking thoughtful. “I could see the Ravenclaw, though. That whole curiosity thing is definitely your thing. And blue is your color.”

Lance blinked, eyebrows up at Keith, which made him turn embarrassed.

“What? It’s true,” he defended himself, clearing his throat. 

Lance giggled. Keith was so cute it was going to kill him. 

“Alright, next question.” 

Keith hummed, tapping his alien coloring stylus against his chin. “If you had to be anything other than a pilot, what would you do?”

“Oh, that’s a good one,” Lance said, actually stumped for a little bit. “I think I’d be some kind of marine biologist, maybe. Or a diving instructor.”

Keith nodded. “I should have figured that. I would have been a mechanic or something, probably. Maybe a tattoo artist if I could get good enough.”

Lance stalled at the images of Keith under a car, with grease on his forehead, a jumpsuit unzipped and wrapped around his waist and a revealing tank top. Or Keith covered in tattoos with piercings covering his ears and face, leather jacket and boots to match, long hair with a streak of red and a tattoo gun in his hand.

“Lance?” Keith asked, startling him out of his fantasies. 

He blinked back into himself. But, boy he wanted to see those versions of Keith, too.

“Uh, yeah. That makes sense,” he said, laughing nervously. “Hm, uh. Next question…would you get a tattoo now?”

Keith laughed and scratched his neck. “Yeah, I could see it. If I wanted something enough.”

“How about we make a deal?” he said, grinning mischievously. “If we find some alien tattoo parlor somewhere, we get tattoos.”

Keith turned a quizzical look on him. “What would you get a tattoo of?”

He shrugged. “Something cool. Maybe Voltron related.”

“Okay, deal,” Keith agreed. 

Lance suddenly got curious about Keith’s drawing and he looked over his shoulder. He had made incredible progress in just those few hours. It was obviously Rosina and Baraniss, looking at each other with loving gazes and ocean waves crashing behind them, twin suns setting the scene. 

“Wow,” he breathed out. It was just as incredible as all the rest, but something about this piece conveyed heart and soul. As though Keith paid extra attention to have his own feelings shown.

“You think she’ll be okay with it?” Keith asked, sounding insecure. “It’s not too…I don’t know…presumptuous?”

Lance shook his head, emotions coming to the surface. “She’ll love it. I’m sure.”

“I am getting soft, aren’t I?” he said, cringing a little. “I’m supposed to be a sword-fighting soldier.”

Lance chuckled. “You still are, you know. That’s not just going to change in less than a week. But, now you can be more than just that.”

“You think?” Keith asked. “You really think it’s not irresponsible?”

“No. It’s not,” he said, firm. “You can’t help anyone if you’re so overworked. Having some time to yourself is important to your health. Which is important now, considering our situation.”

Keith nodded. “Sometimes, you kind of sound like Shiro.”

Lance blinked at him. “Really?”

He gave Lance a genuine smile. “You’d make a great leader.”

Lance rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Oh, you’re making fun of me.”

“What? No. I mean it,” Keith said, knocking an elbow against his. 

Lance took a second to try and analyze Keith’s demeanor. “You’re serious? Come on, I’m the team goofball and flirt. No one would follow me.”

“I would. In a heartbeat,” he said, the most honest he’d ever heard. 

Lance knew. He was so falling in love with this boy. 

They got the call early in the morning. Keith guessed it must have just barely been sunrise. 

Lance cried.

“We should go tell her,” Keith said, grief-stricken. He went over the few words he had spoken to Rosina, saddled in his arms and sickly. He wished he could have met her when she was bright and as spritely as Baraniss. 

Lance sniffled. “I hate this.”

Keith reached and offered a hand between them, for comfort. Lance took it and wiped at his eyes with his other hand. 

“Let’s go see our girl,” Keith said, squeezing Lance’s hand.

The walk was even more deserted than the day before. For the first time since they had been on the planet, the weather changed to gloomy and overcast. Keith moved his sketch under his arm better to protect it from any rain threatening. 

Baraniss didn’t come to the door. Lance knocked one more time.

The door opened, with an already crying Baraniss being revealed. She took one look at the both of them and collapsed on the ground in agony and starting wailing. The sound came from her gills and reminded Keith of whales in distress. It grated on his ears and he flinched involuntarily.

Lance jumped into action, wrapping her in a tight embrace. 

“I’m so sorry, Baraniss. I’m so sorry,” he repeated the line, softly. 

“My stars. My heart and my oceans….” She mourned. 

Keith ached and placed a hand on her head, avoiding the fin. 

“We’re so sorry.”

They stayed that way for a while, until she hiccupped through her gills and wiped her eyes. 

“Please. Save the rest of my people. No more,” she pleaded. 

Keith nodded. “We’re going to do everything we can. We promise.”

Lance placed a hand under her arms. “Come on, we’re getting you inside. It looks like it’s going to rain.”

They gathered and tucked her in the bedding. Lance stroked a hand across her cheeks to wipe her tears. 

“Keith made you something. To help,” he said, softly. 

He didn’t even have it in him to feel insecure, so he just knelt next to the bedding and pulled out the sketch.

“It’s not much. But, we don’t really have anything else and we didn’t know what else to do. We wanted to help in any way we could,” he said, just as soft as Lance. 

Keith laid it out in her lap, letting her gigantic black eyes examine it.

“This is…” she croaked out, emotions clouding her vocal cords. “Keith….you made this?”

“Uh, yeah I drew it,” he said. “I’m not that good, though…”

“It is…glorious. I have never…seen anything like it,” she said, a fresh new wave of tears flowing. She let out a few sobs, tracing a loving hand over Rosina’s likeness. “Our people usually cannot produce such artistry. Our hands were not made for it. Keith….I can not begin to thank you enough.”

“Oh,” he said, understanding. “Uh, well. You’re welcome. It was my pleasure.”

Lance smiled at him, nodding in approval. “He’s really talented. I’ve seen his stuff. But, this is definitely one of the best.”

Baraniss looked at Keith, grabbing his hand in her own. “You are truly one of the blessed ones. I knew that before, but this confirms it.”

Keith then felt embarrassed again. He wasn’t used to all these compliments on things that wasn’t fighting or piloting. He didn’t know how to take it all.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t do more for you both,” he said instead. “I just…wanted to help in some way.”

Baraniss let out another low wailing sound from her gills. “I will always love my stars. I wish you could have met her properly. I know she would have enjoyed talking with you both.” 

Lance wiped some stray tears that made it down his face. “I wish that, too. I’ll always remember how you talk about her.”

“We’ll take her memory to the stars. Where she belongs,” Keith said, looking down at his sketch. “We’ll fight for you both.”

Baraniss cried more at that. “You both honor me more than I could ever have hoped. I love you both.”

Lance smiled, touched. “We love you, too. You’re now family to me. And family means everything to me.”

Keith nodded, unable to contain his own tears at that point. He squeezed her hand, to show how much it meant that she thought so much of them in so little time that they knew each other.

They sat together, quiet and contemplative. They grieved and cried together. It was solemn and heavy, but they didn’t need to talk anymore. They’d said all they needed and at that point they just wanted the comfort of each other’s presence. 

They ate and after a while, Baraniss spoke.

“I would like to give her a proper burial at sea. That is the way of my people,” she said, a little more composed than she had been.

Keith made a noise that conveyed his understanding. “I thought you would. I’ve already told Coran to send her ashes down in a pod. He told us it’d be tomorrow.”

“Would you come with me?” she asked, eyes wide and hopeful. “Neither of us have any others that would want to honor her. My people have grown tired of burials.”

“Of course, anything you need,” Lance said, kindly. “We’re here for you.”

She nodded, then put her hands on her fin and bowed. “I will never forget your kindness, Paladins. You have made the most difficult days of my life filled with brightness and love.”

Keith seemed to find that a signal to leave. He stood and bowed his head back.

“We’ll give you privacy to grieve Rosina. We’ll see you tomorrow for the funeral,” he said. 

Lance walked over and nonchalantly slipped his hand into Keith’s. Baraniss noticed the change in their demeanor and she relaxed.

“I hope you find happiness, Paladins. Even just for the short time me and my bright stars were together and in love, I would never change anything.”

Keith felt his ears burn, but only squeezed Lance’s hand more firmly. 

He was definitely never letting Lance go without a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost didn't go through with this, but I had it planned as soon as I introduced them and this is supposed to be a turning point for the boys, so here we are.
> 
> I hope you guys don't hate me too much, because I know that Baraniss has become a sort of fan-favorite


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All I'll say is....finally, amirite?

When they went to see Baraniss, Lance decided something.

He didn’t want to find himself regretting not trying with Keith, especially if they were constantly facing death and war. He didn’t want to see Keith die without him at least knowing how Lance felt.

He was going to tell Keith he loved him. 

It terrified him in the worst possible way. He could barely walk straight with how anxious he got. It might have been how disorienting the grief for Rosina was, too. 

He was just so scared of losing how easy it had gotten to be around Keith. They were basically roommates now, sleeping in the same bed like it was nothing and Lance might just ruin it all by telling Keith how he felt. Just because Keith wasn’t in love with Shiro didn’t automatically make him in love with Lance.

But the thought of losing Keith without him knowing? That might have scared Lance even more.

Back at their house, it was just as grave and pensive as it had been with Baraniss. They didn’t speak, but both stopped when they heard rain hit the roof.

“My favorite part about Earth was thunderstorms,” Keith said, finally. He sounded choked up and emotional.

Lance felt the nostalgia add itself to the many emotions he was feeling. “It’s one of the things I miss the most. When I was a kid, my siblings and I would run in the rain and when we got older, we’d surf.”

“It’s funny-oh, well I guess not funny, really, but interesting that the day that Rosina died is the day the weather turned so bad. It’s been perfect since we’ve gotten here,” Keith said, melancholic. 

Lance nodded. “I thought that, too. It’s like the gods are mourning her.”

“Then they shouldn’t have made this plague in the first place,” Keith said, glaring at the ceiling, as if daring the gods to do worse. 

Lance shook his head, gently laying a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Now, let’s not challenge the gods, alright? I could totally see you winning, but I’d be super freaked out.”

Keith gave a sad smile. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s just not fair, you know?”

“When I was little, my grandfather died on my Papi’s side. He was a really sweet guy, just really quiet and didn’t have a lot to show for his life. When he passed, my Papi got really mad and said it wasn’t fair that my Papa never was able to do everything he wanted. And my Mami got quiet and said something I’ll never forget.”

Keith had his eyes on Lance, reflective and immersed. 

Lance breathed in and looked at the ceiling, listening to the pitter patter of rain. 

“She said to my Papi that even though she was sure that she was going to have some regrets when she goes, she will always count the things that matter most as successes. And she said that Papa was sure to count my Papi as a success. And that’s what I’ve thought since. I’m sure that Rosina had her regrets and wish she had more time, but she was able to spend a whole year with the love of her life. If I were her, I’d count that as a success.”

Keith looked down to the floor, then dragged Lance to the bedding and laid down, arm behind his head and contemplative.

“That kind of reminds me of when I was a kid with my dad,” he said, eyes wet with emotion. 

Lance noticed that Keith had cried with Baraniss, something that shocked him a little. He only turned on his side and decided to listen.

“When I went to school, people would talk about having a mother or doing something for their mothers and I came home and asked my dad what happened to her. He got really quiet, just turned sad and looked at the sky. He said ‘I know she’s out there. Somewhere. But, it’s a place neither of us can follow.’ I didn’t really get it, because if she was dead, then most parents would say that they had gone to Heaven or something, right? So, I asked where she went. He just started crying and said ‘She’s gone on to do better things. But, I know she remembers us. So we remember her.’”

Lance was silent for a little while, just watching as Keith breathed through his tears and emotions. He reached over and gently took Keith’s hand.

“Do you think that was your dad trying to say that your mother was Galra?” he asked, nervous as to whether that was too far.

Keith only shrugged. “To me, she was just gone. That was it. And my dad died on Earth, never knowing that I came out to space, found out about being part Galra. I always thought my dad died without actually getting what he wanted. But, now I think about it. Maybe, that time with my mom and me, maybe that was enough for him. Maybe he counted me as a success, too.”

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand in reassurance. “I’m sure. I would count you as a success.”

They locked eyes at that, both swirling with emotions that neither were brave enough to voice out loud. It was thick with tension, held tight by the hands entwined between them.

Lance wasn’t sure if that was the moment to confess.

He chickened out and just moved on to the next part of their day. He decided for them that they were taking the day off. 

“Want to watch a movie?” he asked, voice more constricted than he wanted. 

They settled on the bedding, immediately close and touching shoulders. They chose what they could only guess was a kid’s movie, similar to a Disney movie. It was about a Romeo and Juliet situation with two princes of rival kingdoms on different planets. Neither of them could figure out if these kingdoms were real. 

“Someone needs to punch these kings,” Keith said, frowning. 

Lance nodded. “For sure. Look how cute and sweet the princes are, who would want to keep them apart?”

The rain suddenly picked up outside and a loud thunderclap sounded, making Lance jump.

“Woah, that scared me,” he said, laughing and holding his chest over his beating heart. 

Keith chuckled. “You okay there, sharpshooter?”

“Shut up.”

Lance looked over the ceiling, expecting some leaks or anything, but it all stayed dry. He was satisfied and focused back on the movie. They continued their comments and Lance was genuinely moved when the ending was the princes’ wedding. 

“Thank god that had a different ending than actual Romeo and Juliet,” he sighed, feeling a little better from the whole thing. “I don’t know if I could have taken that emotionally.”

“What’s the ending to Romeo and Juliet?” Keith asked, confused. “Don’t they get married?”

Lance froze, then cringed. “Oh, you never read it? Or even saw any movie off the real play?”

Keith shook his head. “My schools all read other Shakespeare. And I only liked the historical ones, so I never looked into Romeo and Juliet. They seriously don’t get married?”

Lance cringed harder and then shrugged. “Nah, they-uh, just move away from each other and they never see each other again.”

He didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. The day was already too sad.

“Oh,” Keith said, frowning. “That is a bad ending.”

Lance nearly started laughing at his adorable reaction. “Yeah, so disappointing when I read that.”

They settled in for another movie from that category and Keith pulled out his sketchbook. 

“What color do you want your merman tail?” Keith asked, smirking. 

“If you’re trying to make fun of me, I’m ignoring that and just saying my tail better be like blue or gold or something cool like that,” he said, grinning with excitement at the idea of being depicted as a merman. 

“Coming right up,” he said, laughing under his breath. 

Lance was really reveling in how easy it was to just hang out with Keith. The air around them was comforting and so tranquil. The rain added an atmosphere of security under the same roof, with Keith’s sketching sounds and the movie playing in the background.

It was almost frightening how much like home this felt.

Lance glanced at Keith in the corner of his eye. 

He wanted to tell him.

Was it too soon? It wasn’t that many days since they got quarantined together. Even if Keith did feel something, was it too much to add pressure? Should he just let things go as they have been? They’d been making progress organically, right?

The scene in the movie was actually pertinent. The two main love interests were at the point where they were lovingly staring into each other’s eyes in the rain. The red-haired girl with strange neck tattoos was obviously wanting to kiss the other girl.

He glanced at Keith again, but froze when he found Keith had been looking at him, too. 

The air around them suddenly changed and Lance couldn’t help flicking his eyes at Keith’s lips. 

“Keith…”

His eyes widened, the color shifting to seem more purple.

“Lance, is this…”

Lance nodded, leaning closer. 

“Can I?” he whispered. 

Keith blinked, eyes moving slowly down to settle on Lance’s lips.

“You actually…want to?” he asked, sounding nervous. 

Lance minutely flinched and pulled back a little. “Only if you want to.”

Keith laid a hand on Lance’s cheek, immediately pulling him closer. 

“Lance, I’m literally drawing you right now. I’ve been wanting to for way longer than I’d like to admit.”

He grinned and surged forward, capturing Keith’s lips in his. 

Kissing Keith was everything he had hoped for and everything he couldn’t even dream of. It was soft and sweet, both too nervous to go further in case of freaking the other out. Just lips and nothing more.

They separated and they just stared at each other in shock. 

“This is way less dramatic than I thought it was going to be,” Lance said, giggling. “I’ve been working up the nerve to say something this entire time.”

Keith chuckled, cupping Lance’s face in his hands. “And you thought I liked Shiro?”

Lance cringed and groaned out loud. “You’re never going to let me live that down are you?”

Keith grinned, mischievously and shook his head. 

“Never.”

He kissed Lance again, surer and more confident this time. They moved together, strong and right. Lance ruined it a little by failing to contain a smile and Keith just smiled back, pushing their smiling lips against each other anyway. 

Keith didn’t know how he got so lucky. Out of an entire Earth’s full of human beings, he ended up with Lance McClain, the bright, confident blue-eyed wonder they didn’t count in those lesser 7 wonders. 

And when he was struggling so hard to find a way to tell him how he felt, it just happened. So easily and soft and sweet. In bed, while Keith drew Lance underwater as a merman and Lance watched some alien movie about love and sacrifice while the rain hit their wooden roof. 

Despite how domestic and soft the atmosphere, it didn’t stop Keith’s hammering heart. He was so scared of messing up or doing it wrong. On the outside, he was trying really hard to keep up a cool façade, but he was so crazed on the inside. 

They continued kissing and laughing until Lance’s stomach rumbled, echoing a thunderclap.

Keith chuckled, shaking his head. “You want to get something to eat?”

Lance’s face turned slightly pink and he lifted a sly shoulder. “I could eat.”

He nodded and kissed Lance’s nose. He had seen that move in a movie once and he thought it was weird when he saw the first time, but in that moment it felt right. He stretched when he stood and grabbed a bonda from the basket.

“Who’d have thought you’d be so affectionate?” Lance said, cooing.

Keith tried to keep the overly joyful smile off his face. “You say a word to the team and no more kisses.”

Lance gasped, dramatically. “Scoundrel! Cruelty!”

He couldn’t resist anymore and grinned, wide. He went outside, getting caught up in a barrage of wind and rain and threw the bonda haphazardly over the railing. He closed the door behind him again and breathed out.

“I feel a little bad to have some poor Rivan deliver us food in this weather,” he said, shivering at the sharp cold rain that shocked his system. 

“If we knew how to get food otherwise, I’d be glad to do that instead,” Lance said, waving Keith back over. “Now get back here, you’re freezing.” 

“Hold on a second. I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

Keith closed the door behind him and shivered again. He was about to get down to business, when he cleared his throat and that started a small coughing fit. He had noticed his chest felt strange, as though something was stuck. He coughed some more, feeling the congestion.

Great, he might be getting a cold.

He froze as his veins ran icy cold with fear.

He hadn’t even considered his few symptoms before as the alien plague, except this wasn’t something he could ignore. He didn’t exactly feel sick really, just off in a way.   
He carefully breathed in and out to make sure there wasn’t anything else hindering it. 

He stood still and wondered what to do. 

If this was something like a cold or allergies, then it’d be stupid to get everyone even more worried about it all. Lance, especially. They had just barely started their new…relationship and Keith didn’t want to start it with crying plague. 

So he shook his head and finished up. 

He wouldn’t say anything unless it got bad enough. He breathed in again, feeling a weird rattling sensation again.

But, maybe he would talk to Yuna or Coran. He would just need some reason as to keep Lance out of it. 

He stepped out and put a small smile on his face.

“You okay? I thought I heard you coughing,” Lance said, sounding a little nervous.

Keith fumbled for an answer. “Oh yeah, uh. I got a drink of water from the tap and it went down wrong.”

Lance breathed out in relief. “I’m still a little paranoid about this whole plague thing. Tell me if you start feeling bad, alright?”

Guilt settled in Keith’s stomach at that. “Yeah, uh-of course.”

He laid back down and curled up against Lance, to distract him from that idea. Lance seemed to take to it and they continued where they left off. 

Keith just needed some space Claritin. He was sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith: it's fine....everything's fine....


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say goodbye to Rosina and then some more misunderstandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all crack me up with the comments on the last chapter

Lance was trying not to feel too guilty for how happy he was with the new development with Keith. 

They had woken up at the sunrise, quiet and grumbling. 

“We should wear their outfits, for…Baraniss,” Keith said, reaching for a red draping.

Lance smirked. “You just want to see me shirtless again, don’t you?”

Keith tried not to smile, but failed mostly. “I’m not going to say anything to that. Although, I will just say that your swimming days have definitely done some wonders for your back.”

Lance felt a swing in ego boost, at that. “Is that so? Well, it’s not like your abs aren’t impressive from your hours on the training deck.”

Keith laughed, fully changed and showing said assets off. “Really? Well, then I’m only hearing positives.” 

They both chuckled and Lance slowly stripped off his shirt, back turned to Keith. He heard Keith clear his throat behind him and laugh, nervously. This was a new territory for both of them, so it was a little awkward and somewhat embarrassing, but they both enjoyed what was happening in their own ways. 

Lance then quickly changed into a draping, leaving on his boxers underneath. He turned back, finally feeling a heat of embarrassment creep up his neck and face.

“This is so inappropriate. We’ve got a funeral to go to,” Lance said, cringing at their awkwardness.

That broke the tension and Keith chuckled. “I’m sure Rosina is looking down on us and rolling her eyes at how dramatic we are.”

Lance shrugged. “Well, we can go say bye to her.”

He offered a hand, feeling insecure again. Keith only sighed, fondly and took it, kissing Lance’s knuckles.

Lance’s red face exploded and he turned away, unable to take how cute Keith had become. 

“Come on, resident team ‘flirt’, once you’re done blushing like a schoolgirl, that is,” Keith said, laughing at his reaction.

Lance stuck his tongue at him and Keith just laughed even harder. 

The funeral was on the far side of the island, where there weren’t any more Rivans. As they walked, the atmosphere around them turned somber and reserved. Lance stepped closer to Keith, wanting some more comfort from his…

They still hadn’t labelled their relationship yet. 

He minutely shook his head. Not the time, Lance.

They came to a small clearing, with a stream through the wooded areas. It had a lot of shrines and seashells littered around, some carvings and letters under rocks. It was a memorial place for the Rivans and Baraniss was already sat, hugging a small Altean looking urn.

“Hey, we’re here. Have you been waiting long?” Lance asked, coming to kneel beside where Baraniss sat.

She startled, then wiped at her eyes. “No, I’ve just been here thinking.”

Keith knelt on the other side of her. “What is there to do?”

Baraniss carefully set the urn on the ground, then closed her giant eyes. “We pray to the oceans to accept Rosina back into their waves and send her back to the land of the gods.”

She started saying words, but Lance didn’t hear them in English. It must have been the language of her people and it somehow made it a lot more effective to him. The language was deep and resounding, similar to whale sounds that shook Lance to the core.

She sucked in a startled breath, emotions choking her up and stalling her prayers. Her tears spilled down her face in waves. 

Both Keith and Lance on either side of her took a hand in their own, offering strength.

She started again and with each word, it seemed harder and harder for her. At some point, she trailed off, beginning to give in to sobs.

It was horrible to listen to and Lance couldn’t help giving into his own tears. He suddenly had an idea. Keith did his part to help Baraniss, so it was his turn. He squeezed Baraniss’ hand to get her attention. 

“Can I help? We have some traditions on our own planet and I think it’ll make it easier for you,” he said, as gentle as he could.

She blinked at him, surprised. “You would do that, for me?”

He smiled, encouragingly. “Of course. You’re family.”

Keith locked eyes with him and gave him the fondest look he’d ever seen on him. It made him even more embarrassed than he usually would be.

Baraniss sucked in a sharp breath, sobbing a little harder. “Please, if you would. I am sure my stars would love it.”

He nodded, clearing his throat and then he began to sing. He hadn’t sung in sincerity in a long time, so he took a moment to get his voice warmed up. He chose a traditional Cuban Bolero that he remembered hearing his brother practicing for his Papa’s funeral. 

The Spanish words felt right and true in his mouth. He forgot how much he neglected using his mother tongue. Baraniss turned back to lovingly cry over the urn that held Rosina’s ashes. Keith kept his eyes on Lance, behind her head.

He let the song ring out in the clearing and then let it end, soft and gentle as the breeze.

Baraniss nodded, then opened the box, pouring its contents into the stream, letting the water send Rosina back to the ocean. 

“You honor us both with your song, Paladin. Thank you for everything,” she croaked out.

They sat together for some time, huddled and comfortable in their grief. They didn’t need to say anything more.

They all jumped when there was suddenly a person that spoke up from behind them.

“I apologize for the interruption,” Yuna said, hands up to indicate her innocent intentions. “But, your strange color haired friend is asking for the Paladins.”

Baraniss didn’t respond, only stared at the stream. Keith and Lance nodded at each other behind her head, before leaning closer to her.

“Take all the time you need,” Lance said, softly.

“If you want to talk to us anymore, just come to our house,” Keith said.

She nodded, still not responding. 

They stood and followed after Yuna, reluctantly. After a while, when Lance knew they weren’t near where Baraniss would overhear, he spoke up.

“Sorry we haven’t been able to catch up with you with how you’ve been doing with all this. Any updates?” he asked, nervous for the answer.

Yuna only shrugged. “The lockdown is new, so there hasn’t been many changes in rates of infection. We are only doing what we can.”

The Paladins exchanged a gloomy look, then joined hands in comfort. Lance was infinitely glad that he ended up with Keith on the planet, even if it meant they were both at risk for the virus. He wasn’t sure what he would have done without him.

“I am sorry for Baraniss’ loss. I feel as responsible as I do all the others,” she continued, solemn and guilty with her head hung.

“It’s not your fault. We all know you’re doing everything you can,” Lance immediately said, firm. 

She looked behind and sighed. “I know that there are some that do not see it that way.”

At that, they were both stunned into silence, unsure how to respond. They ended up exiting onto the beach and coming up next to the Altean pod that Coran had been waiting.

“Ah, Paladins!” He exclaimed, nodding at the arrival. “I’m sorry to have to cut your appearance at the burial short, but I do need to get back to the castle to continue developing a treatment and there are a few things I need to get done.”

Keith nodded. “We get it, it’s okay, Coran. What do you need?”

He opened his mouth to tell them, but stopped short when he saw their enjoined hands. They had forgotten that they still weren’t sharing everything that was happening between them and jumped apart, embarrassed.

“Uh, well you see, I have found a way to produce testing kits, which will immensely help determine just how many people are sick but aren’t showing symptoms yet. This was by examining Rosina’s response to the virus, so we are still having to take blood and saliva samples from the both of you, as we still don’t know how to test the human response yet,” he explained, only with an eyebrow raise at the two of them.

Yuna looked genuinely relieved at the news. “That can really help us isolate those without symptoms and keep them from infecting others. You may just save us, yet.”

Coran grinned, proudly. “Ah, well that is the general plan! The tests are in this crate, next to the pod here. There should be enough for this village. I will take it upon myself to travel to the other populated areas of the planet and get information as to their situations and distribute the tests just in case.”

Lance smiled at the man. “Coran, Coran you gorgeous man, you’re incredible!”

He laughed, heartily. “Oh, just doing my duty, my boy! All in a…well, quintant’s work!”

Keith smiled a little at his enthusiasm. “Well, let’s get this all over with.”

They got poked and prodded, just like last time. Lance took it like a champ, if he does say so himself.

He whined as another needle went in. “You already took my blood!”

Coran chuckled. “This is just if the other sample gets contaminated. Can’t be too careful, now!”

Keith laughed. “Oh, suck it up. It’s just a needle.”

He glared at his…yeah, they still needed to have that talk. “Easy for you to say. I hate the doctor’s.”

“And yet, you wanted to get tattoos,” Keith said, smirking. “Those are done with a lot of needles, don’t you know?”

Lance pouted at his teasing. “That’s different! Getting tattooed is cool and rebellious. This is just…ugh clinical and torture.”

Coran looked curiously between them. “Tattoos?”

Keith chuckled. “Lance wants to get tattoos if we ever find some space alien tattoo parlor. I still think he’ll wuss out whenever we do.”

“I will not!” 

Coran nodded, looking surprised. “You would want to get tattoos…together?”

They both froze, realizing even that much would be surprising considering how they were in the castle before.

Lance laughed, nervously. “We…have gotten a lot closer. Here. And it’s not weird to get tattoos as…uh, friends? Or teammates?”

Keith deadpanned a look at Lance. “Yeah. Friends.”

Lance subtly cringed at Keith’s reaction. They really needed to talk about things.

“Right,” Coran responded, with suspicious glances between the two of them. “Well, then I do believe I know a place that might be able to help.”

Lance turned at that, with eyebrows raised. “Huh? You know a tattoo artist?”

Coran considered the question. “Well, yes and no. I believe I know a planet that would have many….’tattoo’ artists you might say. We just recently have gotten a distress call from them and Shiro has offered to go take a look.”

“Shiro’s going on a mission by himself?” Keith asked, alarmed. “That’s too dangerous! Zarkon is after the black lion the most!”

Coran waved a hand. “He was going to go in a pod. Just to assess the situation. He was going to report back in a few vargas.”

“I still don’t like it,” he continued to argue. “Someone else should go.”

“Yeah, honestly I think so too,” Lance said, hesitantly. “Shiro should be leading here. Let Hunk or Pidge go.”

Keith seemed surprised that Lance agreed with him and he shrugged and smiled. 

“When you’re right, you’re right,” he said, laughing nervously.

Coran seemed even more suspicious by this exchange. “Is there something else going on here that I should know about?”

Both of them stammered. Keith shook his head.

“Nope. We’re just getting to be better…friends, that’s all,” he said, with a slightly aggravated tone for the word ‘friends’. 

Lance held back a flinch. He definitely messed up.

“Well, I’m glad for that. It will most definitely help Voltron!” Coran said, grinning.

Keith gave him a strained smile. “Yeah, I’m happy that something good could come of this.”

Lance shrunk into himself. He was so ‘in the doghouse’ as his Papi used to say when his Mami was mad at him.

“Well, I should get going to the rest of the populated areas,” Coran said, climbing back into the pods. “I will update you whenever I’m done testing your samples.”

They waved him off and walked back to their house in silence.

Lance cleared his throat, awkwardly.

“So, uh, Keith…about back there…”

“Yeah, Lance…buddy?” he responded, side-eyeing Lance. “Pal? Amigo?”

“Oh, really? Amigo?” Lance asked. “Come on, Keith, we haven’t exactly had a full conversation about what…we are.”

Keith rounded on him, causing him to stop in surprise. “And what? You don’t want anyone to know? What? Is this just another conquest? Something to stave off your boredom?”

“What? No! Of course not!” he said, hands coming to his waist. “Is that what you really think of me?”

“Well, how else am I supposed to take all that?” Keith said, annoyed. “You’ve only been decent to me on this planet and everyone knows you flirt with anything you come into contact with! So, am I just the next one on the list? The easy target because I’m the inexperienced orphan you just happened to get stuck with?”

Lance reeled back in offense. That one actually hurt.

“I didn’t want to say anything without talking to you about it all first! You’re a really private person and I didn’t know if you wanted the team to know yet!” He practically yelled back. “Fuck me, I guess for even considering your feelings, huh?”

He pushed past him and stomped back to their house, sighing and angrily kicking the railing on the back side of the walkway. He immediately regretted it and hissed out a pained breath, holding his now throbbing ankle.

He cursed in Spanish, so much he’s sure his mother somewhere is turning red with fury.

Keith rounded the corner, breathing harder than he should have been even if he sprinted the entire rest of the path. 

“Lance, Jesus Christ, don’t run away like that,” he panted out, bending over in exertion.

“Dude, are you okay? Where’s all that samurai endurance, huh?” he asked, actually forgetting to be mad. 

Keith only responded with an exhausted glare. “I’m fine. Don’t change the subject. Listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have went off on you like that. I assumed things about you and it wasn’t fair.”

Lance sighed, running a hand through his hair. “No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have just left things as ambiguous as I did.”

Keith then tried breathing in and coughed some, alarming Lance even more.

“Keith, seriously, are you okay? You don’t think you’re getting sick, are you?” he asked, coming up to him and reaching a hand to his forehead.

“I’m fine, don’t worry. I think just being on this planet and not…exercising is affecting…my fitness,” he said, grabbing Lance’s hand before he could check his temperature.

Keith sighed and brought both of their hands together, he looked down, insecure. 

“About…us…”

Lance nodded, smiling nervously. “Well, I mean…I guess I never actually said but…I really, really like you. Like a lot. And I’d like…if there was an actual…real us.”

He glanced up at Lance. “Really? You mean that? You’re not just saying that because we’re stuck on this planet together?”

Lance breathed a fond chuckle and shook his head. “I’m not just saying nonsense when I tell you how incredible you are.”

Keith finally smiled, a little embarrassed. “Oh, well…I really, really like you, too. Like a lot. I’m sorry for…I don’t know, freaking out or whatever.”

Lance chuckled. Keith was just an insecure boy and was embarrassed. It was adorable.

“I’ll forgive you if you agree to be my real-life boyfriend,” he said, smirking. “And be warned, I’m an obnoxiously romantic guy that will definitely call you things like baby and sweetheart and you will most definitely get tired of me being clingy all the time.”

Keith only giggled, which made Lance grin wider. “Alright, bring it on, sharpshooter. I’m sure I can handle it.”

They shared a sweet and enduring kiss and when Lance wrapped Keith’s face in his hands, he barely noticed just how hot Keith’s skin was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, like chill fam I'm not hiding the fact that there is gonna be a sappy happy ending


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is in a lot more trouble than he thought

Keith felt worse and worse by the varga. He knew that if this was actually the alien disease, he needed help fast. 

After his…sort of…argument with Lance, that ended quite well anyway, he made an excuse that he was called in for another meeting with the council and made his way through the paths as well as he could with his obvious fever and fatigue.

He breathed out some coughs, each time getting worse and worse. One of the last times he had to keep himself upright against the railing. 

“Shit, this really isn’t good,” he said to himself. 

“Paladin? Are you alright?” he heard someone say behind him.

He groaned, blearily looking at who spoke, understanding with his weary mind that it was Yuna and he slumped to the wood of the bridge in relief.

“I think I might be sick,” he rasped out, moaning at the pain in his head and weirdly his joints.

Yuna said some words in her language, quickly dropping next to his side, laying a hand to his forehead and opening his mouth.

“Breathe for me,” she said, no nonsense. “If you can, cough as well.”

He did as commanded, weakly. She hissed through her gills, sounding distressed.

“How long have you had symptoms?” she asked, eyes only conveying disappointment he hadn’t mentioned it before.

Keith grimaced. “A few days, maybe? At least since last night.”

She frowned. “If you are young and healthy, the symptoms should not be progressing this quickly. Something is very wrong.”

He sucked in a breath at that and coughed harder. “I’ve been hiding it all day as best I could. But, Lance started running…I had to…chase him. It made me really weak.”

She sighed, even more disappointed. “You should have come to me when you first noticed the symptoms. I would have told you to rest immediately, exercise of any kind can only exacerbate your symptoms.”

“Is there anything you can give me? It’s probably just a…cold or something. Allergies from alien…stuff,” he said, trying his best not to wince at the twinges of pain in his head.

She slumped her shoulders. “Alright. I can give you some tonics that have helped treat the symptoms. However, this is not a cure. I believe this will only get worse with time.”

She wrapped his arm around her shoulders, helping him stand with a sturdy hand around his waist.

“One tonic will give you some of your strength back,” she told him. 

His weakness was the biggest concern about trying to keep Lance out of the loop. He could give excuses for his coughing and maybe even the fever, but his endurance and strength as a warrior was his staple. If he lost that, Lance would definitely notice.

They stumbled into the medical hub, Yuna carrying him most of the way. 

“I need a cot. The best one we have. A Paladin has fallen ill,” she said, in the direction of one of her apprentices.

His gigantic black eyes widened at the sight of Keith in her arms, hurrying off into the next room. 

Keith looked around, seeing the medical hub was filled to the brim of sick patients on bedding on the ground. The walls were covered with shelves of books and bottles of every color. Apprentices were rushing around, tending to as many sick and moaning patients as they could.

“Chief, there is one open in the next room,” the apprentice came back, pointing. 

“I’m really…fine,” Keith tried to say. 

“Hush, you ridiculous martyr. I am sure Lance would want you to be as healthy as possible,” Yuna said, firmly. “Come now.”

The apprentice came to his other side and lifted an arm around his shoulders.

“I told Marner to get the set of tonics from the fresh supply,” the apprentice said.

Keith barely paid attention to the next string of the conversation. It was all a blur from there, some lights and some strange tasting liquids down his throat, some instruments poking into his mouth and nose and ears. 

At some point he must have just passed out, because he came to at night, sitting up in alarm.

“Keith, you are safe,” Yuna said, coming to his side, immediately. “How are you feeling?”

He groaned, rubbing at the pain in his head. “Not great.”

“Well, at least you’re finally telling the truth.”

Keith froze at those words, grimacing.

“Lance…”

There he stood, hands on hips and eyes red from what looked like crying. Those beautiful blue eyes were clouded with worry and anger. 

Yuna looked between them, then held her hands up and stood. 

“I will let you two talk alone. I will come back with more tonics.”

Keith almost argued for her to stay, but catching the look Lance threw at him, he nodded at her. 

They were left alone in the room, it seemed as though Keith had a room to himself. The tension was thick and Lance paced, angrily.

“Lance, I can explain-,”

Lance rounded on him, baring his teeth and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You asshole, you lied to me? This is a goddamn plague! It could kill you!”

Keith sighed, running an exhausted hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you to worry. It didn’t feel as bad and I thought it could just be like a cold.”

Lance rolled his eyes and made a frustrated noise. “Y’know, Keith. The thing about being in a relationship of any kind? Is communication. You should have told me as soon as this started.”

He must really feel bad, because this was starting to get to him emotionally. He scrunched his face up to try and keep himself from crying.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” he said, quietly.

Lance only sighed, kneeling down next to his bedding on the ground, laying a hand against his cheek.

“I’m not mad, okay? Well, eh I kind of am, I’m just...shit, sweetheart. I’m worried,” he said, blue eyes shining again. “We just got over ourselves and this happens? Feels like we’re cursed or something.”

Keith chuckled, but it ended up another coughing fit. 

Lance leaned back, letting him get it out of his system. “Jesus, how long has this been going on?”

Keith sniffled and sighed after he was done. “I noticed last night. I was going to talk to Yuna or Coran but stuff started happening and then I ran after you and I just felt really weak after. I don’t remember much since Yuna carried me here.”

Yuna came back with tonics, nodding in approval that they seemed closer and knelt on Keith’s other side.

“I apologize that I called for Lance as soon as your condition worsened. I was not aware you were keeping it from him,” she said, a disapproving look on him. 

Lance glared at him. “Don’t worry, I chewed him out for that, already.”

Keith pouted. “I said I was sorry!”

Yuna shook her head. “What troublesome outsiders, you are.”

They laughed at that, but Keith just ended up coughing more.

“Here, this will help,” she said, offering a tiny vial with green liquid in it. “A regular decongestant and fever reducer.”

“Huh, space Tylenol, then?” Lance said, looking proud of the joke.

Keith rolled his eyes. He downed the contents, coughing again but at the taste this time. It was as if he just downed a shot of straight alcohol mixed with seawater.

“Oh, wow,” he rasped out. “That’s disgusting.”

Lance chuckled, stroking Keith’s face. “That’s it. Take your medicine.”

Keith glared at his boyfriend. “If I wasn’t still sorry for lying, I would so hit you right now.”

He just grinned. “And if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you meant that.”

Keith almost hated how much Lance knew about him now. 

“You both are very cute, but Keith needs to take more tonics,” Yuna said, laughing a whistle laugh through her gills.

Keith nodded. The rest of the medicines tasted just as awful, if not worse.

“I called the team while you were out. Coran’s looking into why you’ve gotten sick so quickly,” Lance said, gently pushing Keith back onto his back. “In the meantime, you need to rest. Doctor’s orders.”

“You’re not a doctor,” Keith said, confused. “Are you?”

Lance giggled. “Oh, I think that medicine’s gotten to you. Sleep, alright, sweetheart?”

Keith only hummed, feeling groggy. “It’s embarrassing, but…I like you calling me that…”

That was the last thing he remembered before he drifted off again.

Lance was a little confused and surprised when Keith hurried off after they had their heart-to-heart confession time. He didn’t remember a point where he would have gotten word of another meeting when Lance hadn’t been present. 

He didn’t pay it much mind and just sighed against the railing, looking out to the water. Keith was now his boyfriend and even if they were still in quarantine situation, they could deal with anything together.

At least, that’s what he had thought. 

Until Yuna came running, saying that he needed to go see Keith and that it wasn’t good.

His heart leapt into his throat and he stumbled after her as quickly as he could.

Keith was laying on a cot of bedding on the ground, pale and sweating. He was unconscious and would sometimes grimace or moan in pain.

“What happened? Did he catch the virus?” he had asked Yuna when he saw Keith for the first time.

She only looked confused. “I believe so. He came looking for me, saying that he had been feeling weak and in pain.”

He felt shock in his core. “Did he say how long he’d been feeling that way?”

She just cocked her head. “He said since last night. Did he not tell you?”

Lance blinked, letting the information absorb. “No. No, he didn’t.”

Yuna left him alone after this to take care of Keith and in between administering tonics and putting water-soaked cloths to deal with the fever, he cried and paced in anger and worry and fear.

He didn’t know how to deal with the emotions, seeing as how he couldn’t exactly yell at his lying good-for-nothing boyfriend while he was unconscious from a probable deadly alien disease. 

He ended up running back to their house and rummaging for their communication device. He called the team with a ‘red alert’ signal attached, which would sound the castle alarms. He only had to wait a moment before the image of the bridge opened up with Allura and Coran at the helm and Shiro the only one right behind them.

“Lance, what is it?” Allura said, not even sounding winded.

“It’s Keith. He’s sick. It’s bad,” he said, quickly. “Apparently he’s been feeling sick since last night and he just…didn’t tell me.”

Shiro’s face crumpled. “What do you mean ‘bad’? How bad?”

Lance grimaced. “He’s unconscious right now. Fever, been coughing. Uh, regular weakness and fatigue. Yuna said he’s been showing breathing problems, too.”

Coran paced, hand stroking his mustache. “By all the notes, even if he had contracted within the first day he shouldn’t have started showing severe symptoms until a least another quintant. Something’s not right.”

Shiro ran a stressed hand through his cropped hair. “So, what are we going to do?”

Hunk and Pidge came running in, breathing hard.

“Sorry we’re late, we had been working on some of the med tech to get better testing done, what did we miss?” Hunk said, hands on hips.

“Keith has gotten the virus, it seems,” Allura said, distressed. “We were just going over what to do.”

Both of them stop in shock. 

Pidge hurried forward, to watch the video screen closer. “What do you mean? I thought it took like weeks before symptoms show up?”

“Yeah, yeah, we know what we thought but again, we’re the aliens here. We don’t know how any of this affects humans and not even to mention Keith’s Galra genes thrown into the mix,” Lance said, sighing in frustration.

Coran spun around, snapping his fingers together. “That’s it! Lance, you’re a genius!”

He blinked in confusion, then laughed nervously. “Alright, in normal circumstances, I would just quip something along the lines of stating the obvious, but right now I’m kind of really freaking out so I’m just gonna say I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Coran waved a hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll have answers to all these questions quicker than you can say Biffenwalps!”

He then ran out of the bridge, a man on a mission. The rest of the team seemed to be just as confused as Lance.

“Well, maybe Coran can come up with something useful,” Allura said, sighing. “Are you both still safe, Lance?”

He shrugged. “Uh, yeah pretty much. The only danger we’ve really had to deal with was the disease anyway and well, Keith’s probably already got it and if Keith has it, I definitely do, too.”

Hunk looked stricken with fear. “Lance, are you feeling okay? Have you shown any symptoms?”

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I’m fine for now.”

“Then how do you know you’ve got it?” Pidge asked, sounding suspicious.

Lance sighed, exhausted at all of it. “We’ve been stuck together in one house for a whole week now. There’s no way I wouldn’t have gotten it from him.”

Keith stirred again, blearily opening his eyes and then shutting them. He groaned in pain. 

“Oh, Keith is waking up I think. I’ve gotta go,” he said to the team, quickly. “I’ll call again with updates and I’m sending a list of tonics that Yuna has been prescribing him. Get it to Coran and see if that’ll be helpful at all.” 

Shiro nodded. “Take care of him, okay?”

Lance held his gaze through the screen and tried to convey his serious attitude. 

“I promise.”

He was not giving up on Keith for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this looks bad, but fam you gotta trust me it's gonna be fine


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some answers are revealed and Lance is given an opportunity

Lance was still angry at Keith for lying to him about how he was feeling, but even he knew it was more than anything fear. 

The room they had Keith staying in was probably Yuna’s personal office space, because all the really important documents seemed to be stored in this room. He poured over every single one, counting the symptoms and tracing how severe they seemed. 

Cough, breathing problems, fever…

Damn it, this wasn’t looking very good. By all accounts Keith has already started in the final stages. Most died within weeks of symptoms this severe. 

Lance really started to panic. He crumpled the paper in his hand that only spelled out Keith’s inevitable doom and the fear gripped him, causing him to hyperventilate and cry.  
Keith woke up again, groaning more than he had.

“Lance? Are you here?” he rasped out, then coughed.

Lance hurried over and knelt by Keith’s head. “Hey, yeah, sweetheart. I’m right here. How do you feel?”

Keith groaned, again. “A lot...hurts…”

Lance sucked in a breath and couldn’t help the tears of fear. “Okay, uh. I’ll talk to Yuna about some kind of pain reliever.”

Keith just coughed more and nodded. 

Lance quickly turned and ran out of the room, desperately searching for Yuna and calling out her name. She came running from the other side of the house.

“Lance, what do you need?” she asked, worried.

“He’s in pain. What can I give him?” he said, unable to keep the panic out of his voice.

She sighed. “I can give you another tonic. However, this one is…hard on the body.”

He bit his lip. “How hard? Is it worse than the actual virus?”

“It depends on the strength of the patient. If you think Keith is strong enough, then it will certainly make him more comfortable,” she said.

He nodded. “He’s strong. He can take it.”

Yuna just sighed and gestured to an apprentice. “Go get the pain relief. Deliver it to the Paladin’s room.”

Lance breathed out a small sigh of relief. “Thank you, Yuna.”

Keith was moaning and massaging his chest when Lance went back in. He knelt down and placed a comforting hand on Keith’s cheek.

“It’s gonna be alright, sweetheart. They’re bringing some pain relief,” he told his sick boyfriend. 

Keith just grimaced and tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes. “I’m sorry Lance. I didn’t mean to…hurt you…”

Lance wiped the tears away. “Hey, you’re gonna be just fine and then we can talk, alright?”

Keith shook his head. “We both know…how this ends. Barely anyone…has survived this. I don’t want to die knowing…I hurt you.”

Lance was panicking. Keith was trying to say goodbye. “Don’t you dare, Keith. You’re going to be fine. You’ve only had these symptoms a few days. Most have lived weeks. And some have survived!”

He just shook his head again. “No one has had it this badly…this quickly. There’s no time…to wait for treatments.”

Lance sucked in a breath and felt the tears he’d been fighting win. He grabbed Keith’s hand off his chest and squeezed. 

“I’m not letting you die, alright? It’s not gonna happen. I won’t-I won’t let you, damn it.”

Keith tried to chuckle, but just ended up coughing. “I thought you said this wasn’t something we could fight.”

Lance glared through his tears. “Maybe, but I’m nothing if not stubborn and so are you. You’re going to live. And after you get better I’m gonna punch you for lying to me and making me worry so much, asshole.”

Keith sucked in a pained breath. “Always been…the optimist, huh?”

Lance couldn’t contain his sobs anymore. “Come on, Keith…you can’t do this to me. You haven’t let me cook for you or-or impress you on the training deck or buy…presents for you. And…you promised to draw me as a merman!”

Keith cried some more, too. “I’m really sorry, Lance. I wish…we’d had more time.”

There was a knock at the door, making Lance jump out of skin. 

“Oh, your pain relief. Listen, I’m gonna figure out something. Don’t give up, okay?” he said, kissing Keith on his fire-hot forehead.

Keith just sighed and nodded. “Fine. If anyone…could fight death…it’d be you.”

Lance almost smiled at that. “You got that, right, sweetheart and don’t you ever forget it.”

The apprentice handed off the pain relief tonic and bowed as he ran off to do other things.

Lance administered the tonic and Keith coughed at the taste again.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I really…miss the healing pods,” he said, grimacing. 

Lance chuckled. “Sleep, now. I’m going to call the team again and update them.”

Keith barely seemed to register that and just turned his head away from Lance, exhausted. Lance paced the room, something that was now routine to his time there and breathed through his panic.

“He’s gonna be fine. He’s Keith, there’s no way some flu is gonna take him down. That’d be so lame,” he muttered to himself. 

He breathed in and out as slowly as he could, trying to calm himself down. He nodded to himself then called the castle-ship again.

He only had to wait a tick, then Coran answered from the med bay. He seemed much more worried than he had seen before now.

“Ah, Lance, good timing! I have good news and bad news.”

Lance sighed and rubbed his now aching head. “Alright uh, give me the good news.”

“Well, it seems as though you are probably safe from the virus!” he said, grinning widely. “I realized from your points before that I had trouble testing your samples because I was forgetting your human physiology and Keith’s partial Galran physiology. I tested both of your samples with that in mind and I deduced human physiology is much less susceptible to severe symptoms than Rivan physiology. You are much less likely to show severe symptoms and even then, you are definitely going to live!”

Lance nodded. “Okay, that’s great. But, none of this is about Keith. How does this affect him?”

Coran sighed, dejected. “Well, that is the bad news, really. Even if he is only partially Galra, it seems maybe Galran physiology is much more susceptible than even Rivan. He is more likely…to not survive this.”

Lance’s fear increased ten-fold and he fell to his knees, unable to absorb the news. 

“Please, Coran. What can we do? Is there anything?” he asked, desperately. “You said you were working on a treatment. How long until that’s finished?”

Coran turned a sad eye to him. “I’m very sorry, Lance. I don’t know if there is anything we can do at this point. We can bring you both back to the castle-ship in hopes that if I examine him, I can understand it better…however, I just don’t know if that will be enough.”

Lance choked against his grief and despair. He was going to lose Keith so soon after all this? 

“Coran…I can’t…” he said, unable to contain it anymore. “I can’t lose him, please.”

Coran furrowed his brows in curiosity, before it looked like realization dawned on him and he breathed out. 

“Oh, Lance, my boy. You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” he asked, but the tone suggested Coran already knew the answer.

Lance just let out a choked sob. “We barely figured ourselves out…I-it’s so soon…”

Coran just looked stricken. “I’m so sorry. I will bring you both up to the castle. I will do everything I can.”

“I haven’t even told him I love him,” he said, quietly. “What am I going to do?”

Coran shook his head. “I will let you talk to the team. They should know the extent of what’s going on.”

He swiped on his end and sent Lance’s feed to the bridge. The entire team was assembled, hard at work in their seats.

“Lance, we’ve been doing everything we can to research this strain having to do with mixed Galran DNA,” Shiro said, looking as though he hadn’t slept in days. 

“I need to tell you guys something about me and Keith,” Lance said, cutting off Shiro from explaining any more about that.

The team stopped their typing and looked up curiously at that. Pidge just looked somewhat knowing.

“Me and Keith are…together. Like, we’re…boyfriends,” he said, clearing his throat at the end.

Hunk jumped up and pumped his fist. “Yes! I knew it!”

“You didn’t know until I told you, dipshit,” Pidge said, rolling his eyes. “And yeah I figured that out a while ago.”

Shiro, on the other hand, only looked relieved. Allura just seemed even more confused.

“What does this have to do with Keith’s condition?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, nothing really,” Lance said, laughing nervously. “I just thought…well, I wanted you guys to know.”

Hunk grinned, holding hands close to his chest. “Lance, I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks, buddy,” Lance said, glad for his best friend’s genuine happiness. “Now, we can get back to saving his life.”

Shiro nodded, although he still looked glad for the news too. “We’ve been searching every database from our allies about any Galra intel about this disease. If they were trying to occupy the planet and knew that the virus was more deadly to them, they definitely would have some kind of back-up plan.”

Lance thought about it. “Yeah, that makes sense…”

Pidge typed away on her laptop. “If I can just understand why Galra genes are affected more than others…”

Allura just sighed in defeat. “I fear that we just don’t have enough time.”

“We’ll save him,” both Lance and Shiro said in unison. They nodded at each other.

“Alright, so the idea is if the Galra knew about the virus and knew how bad it was, then they would have some kind of back-up plan, right?” Lance said, standing and pacing in thought. “I should think the ones that would know the most about it would be the fleet that was here, right? Then we should just trace that fleet and force them to give up their intel!”

Allura and Shiro looked at each other and considered. 

“I don’t know, Lance. How would that work?” Allura asked. “We haven’t had that kind of mission before. This could end up where they demand a trade for information.”  
Lance gritted his teeth. “I don’t care! I’ll give up the blue lion, for Christ’s sake! We need to try!”

The whole team fell silent in shock at that. 

“Lance, that’s really extreme. We can find another way,” Hunk said, shaking his head.

Shiro ran a hand over his scar, then stood and faced the rest of the group.

“I need a moment alone with him.”

They all just glanced at each other, then nodded and headed out. Lance stopped pacing and watched this all curiously. Shiro turned and gave Lance a grave look.

“Lance, I appreciate how much it seems as though you care about Keith, I really do. But, that is too dangerous of a plan and I know Keith would be really angry to know you were willing to risk that just for him.”

Lance growled in annoyance. “Like I care about that. This is life or death. And I’m not losing him.”

Shiro blinked in surprise. “You really do care about him, don’t you?”

“I do. I love him,” he said, drawing himself up to his highest and daring Shiro to argue. “And I’m going to save him.”

Shiro crossed his arms and looked contemplative. He seemed to come to a decision, because he nodded and looked back at the screen.

“Okay. Then, I’ll help you with this plan. Coran told us he’s picking you both up and is suiting up for the pods right now. I suggest you say goodbye to all your Rivan friends and get up here as soon as you can. I’ll tell Allura to let you take lead on this mission. I’ll back your decisions.”

Lance gaped in disbelief. “Wait, you’re going to let me lead? Why?”

Shiro just smiled, proud and confident. “Because what you said before about not letting Keith die? Is exactly the kind of determination I’ve been waiting to see from you. It’s not because you’re stubborn or you wanting glory. You’ve grown.”

Lance blinked. “Wow, well…okay. Yeah, alright I can work with that. I just want to save Keith.”

He nodded. “I do, too. He’s like my little brother. And I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to him. So, I’m behind you on this.”

They finished off the call and Lance sat on the ground, taking it all in. The situation was fucked, but Shiro was giving him lead on a mission. He’d never thought that happen. He needed to keep his head on straight, because one wrong call for him could end up risking the lives of his whole team. 

He needed to prep Keith for the pod and he needed to go talk to Baraniss and Yuna. 

Lance had the most important mission of his life. Forget Zarkon and the Galra Empire. This was saving the man he loved. And he wasn’t going to mess it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of these next chapters is just going to be Lance's POV. The first part was mostly about getting Keith to open up and learn to trust more people, while this next part is Lance stepping into more responsibility and learning to be more mature


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wants to save Keith, at any cost. And he's not the only one.

“Keith has fallen ill?” Baraniss asked, eyes wide with concern.

Lance sat across from her in her house, bags packed and wearing his usual outfit.

He nodded, fists clenched. “My team is taking both of us back up to the castle. And we have a plan. I’m going to find a way to save him.”

She pursed her lips. “What about you? What if you fall ill?”

He shook his head. “Coran said something about humans not getting it as bad as Rivans or Galra. Even if I did, I’ll be fine.”

She looked confused. “Is Keith not human?”

Lance froze. “Uh, well…that’s kind of complicated…”

Her gigantic black eyes blinked. “I see…I will not ask anymore. I can see that is not for you to tell me about.”

He smiled, gratefully. “Thank you. Actually, thank you for everything, Baraniss. I’m going to come back and I’m going to find a way to save your people. I promise.”

Baraniss grasped her fin and bowed. “I should be the one thanking you, Lance. You Paladins have honored us all. I wish you peace and for Keith’s health.”

He bowed his head back. “I need to get going. I’ll see you when I get back.”

She laid a hand on his shoulder, stopping his movement. “I have something I wish to give you, if you would accept.”

He waited as she hurried across the room, rifling through her wardrobe. She reached in and pulled out a wooden box, humming in achievement.

“This belonged to Rosina. I wish for you to have it,” she said, offering it to him.

He was stunned. “What? Are you sure?”

She nodded and her lips lifted in a sort of smile. “She found this one day and said that it would bring her luck. The next day I decided to tell her how I felt. She said this was the luckiest shell in the ocean. I want you to have it. Maybe Rosina will look down on you and Keith.”

He opened up the box and found a multi-colored conch shell, red turning to purple then turning to blue. It shined in the light and switched colors depending on the angle.

“Woah,” he breathed out. “Baraniss, this is beautiful.”

She laid a hand on his arm. “Take it to the stars and stay safe. Save Keith and love him forever.”

Lance felt so touched and felt tears again. “Thank you, Baraniss. You’re the best.”

She breathed out a whistle laugh. “I would hardly say that, but you’re welcome.”

He hugged her, tightly and waved a goodbye. He tucked the box away in one of his bags and headed out. He saw the Altean pod sitting on the beach and hurried over through the pathways and caught up with Coran, this time without a hazmat suit.

“So, I’m guessing that Alteans aren’t in danger either?” Lance asked, gesturing to Coran’s usual outfit.

“We have very similar inner physiology as humans,” Coran explained. “Where’s Keith?”

Lance dropped his bags next to the pod. “I’m gonna go get him now. He’s too weak to walk on his own.”

Coran looked grim at that. “Alright, I’ll put your bags in the pod. Do you need help carrying Keith?”

Lance shook his head. “I’ve got it, don’t worry.”

He didn’t want anyone else dealing with a sick Keith. He was Lance’s boyfriend. Lance’s responsibility. And Lance was going to be the one to save him.

He ran back through the pathways, knowing the way by heart now. He slowed down through the door of the med hub, greeting the apprentices.

“Can you send Yuna to Keith’s room?” he asked one of them.

He nodded and hurried off through to the next room. None of the sick Rivans paid him any attention as he carefully made his way to Keith’s room. He opened the door, waking Keith. He blearily tried to sit up and just groaned instead.

“Lance? What’s…” he asked at his non-surfer attire.

He knelt down in his spot and wiped the sweat of Keith’s forehead. “Shhh, sweetheart. Don’t worry. You and I are going back to the castle. Coran’s gonna help take care of you.”

Keith furrowed his brows in confusion. “But, I want to…stay with the ocean.”

Lance felt his entire heart break and he held in a sob. “We’ll be back. When you’re better, we’re gonna come back. We’ll see Baraniss again and after I save you, we’ll save them all together.”

Keith breathed out, then coughed. “Oh…okay…”

Lance nodded, then kissed Keith on the forehead. He hooked his arms under Keith’s knees.

“Can you wrap your arms around my neck for me, sweetheart?” he asked.

Keith nodded, sitting up and sucking in a pained breath. Lance waited patiently, until Keith slowly wrapped his arms around Lance’s shoulder and chest.

“There you go, that’s it,” Lance praised him, quietly.

Lance gathered him in his arms, actually grateful for how much weight Keith had. It made him feel more grounded, more real. He hadn’t lost that muscle. He was still Keith and he was still here.

He stood with an “Ooph” and carefully arranged Keith in his arms.

Keith sounded a soft chuckle. “Too much, sharpshooter?”

Lance grinned. “Never.”

Yuna came in and breathed out.

“You are leaving now?” she asked.

He nodded, looking down at Keith and knocked their noses together.

“We’re going to get some information on the virus from the Galra. We’re going to see whatever they know that can help Keith and all the other Rivans,” he said, turning back to her.

She nodded and gave him a bag. “Some more tonics, that could probably help.”

He took it in the hand under Keith’s knees.

“Thank you for everything, Yuna. I’m going to come back and help your people. I promise.”

Lance walked out the med hub and was careful not to jostle his sick boyfriend. Meeting Coran on the beach, he sent the two Paladins a sentimental smile.

“Keith, how are you feeling?” Coran asked, after Lance laid him down in the containment pod.

Keith was breathing harder than Lance, even though Lance had been the one to carry Keith.

“I’ve been better,” he rasped out, wincing.

Coran nodded, looking worriedly at Lance. He breathed in hard.

“He’s gonna be fine.”

Lance caresses Keith’s cheek one last time. “Sleep. We’re gonna be back at the castle in no time.”

Keith just nodded, turning away and closing his eyes. Coran pushed a few buttons, closing the pod and it floated back up behind the seats of the cock pit. They both climbed in after, Coran at the pilot’s seat.

“Shiro told the team that you’re all going through with the plan to trace the fleet that they scared off last quintant,” Coran said, piloting them through the sky. “And that it was your idea.”

Lance nodded. “If any Galra fleet has information on the virus and how it affects Galra, it’d be that one. Once Keith is stable in the med bay, I’m going to go in to get started on the mission”

Coran glanced at him. “You’re very serious about this. Shiro also mentioned you’re taking the lead.”

Lance sighed and ran a nervous hand through his hair. “He told me that he was going to let me lead, but honestly I’m not sure. I feel like my head isn’t in the game.”

Coran nodded. “It makes sense. Keith in this condition must be very troubling for you.”

“I…I just want to save him, nothing else matters right now,” he said, trying hard not to cry yet again.

Coran settled on a small smile. “I know all of this is very hard, but I’m just wanting to tell you I’m very proud of you, Lance.”

Lance turned, confused. “For what? Letting Keith get sick?”

Coran shook his head. “No, no. I’m proud of you for how mature you’ve been.”

Lance just looked out of the window as they breached the upper atmosphere and saw the signs for space.

“Keith finally figured out to trust me and was so…open and he was having fun. I let my guard down. I didn’t notice Keith start to get sick. I wasn’t paying enough attention. It’s my fault,” he said, a few tears leaking out again. “I’m not letting that happen again. I’m going to save him.”

Coran fell silent as they approached the castle. They touched down on the docking bay and Lance didn’t waste any time to jump out and wait for Keith’s pod to come down with Coran. The smell of the castle hit him and he felt the real loss of the gentle familiar smell of the ocean and seawater.

Keith’s pod floated down and came to a stop next to him. He checked to see the vital signs were stable in the pod and sighed with relief. He was okay for now.

“Lance!” he heard, seeing the docking bay door opening and the entire team coming through, Hunk at the front and his arms open for a hug.

Lance sighed with relief again and ran into his best friend’s arms. Hunk’s hugs were legendary and how gently Hunk held him now sent him into an emotional surge again. He choked out a small sob and tears came down his face.

“We’re here for you. We’re with you. We won’t let him go,” Hunk said, quietly and gently.

Lance nodded against his shoulder, unable to respond. He just embraced Hunk tighter. He soaked in the familiar safe space that he had in Hunk, bringing back other moments in his time at the Garrison that they had relied on each other and Lance let that help him for just that moment.

He sniffled and stepped back, wiping at his eyes. He nodded at the rest of the team behind Hunk, waiting for his say so.

“Okay, I have a start of a plan. Have you tracked the fleet?” he asked, clearing his throat from any sign of crying.

Allura nodded. “We tracked it to a nearby system. We suspect there is another occupied planet there and is using that time for repairs.”

He nodded. “Alright, I’m going to help Coran with Keith, but I want to get started on the mission as soon as possible. Every minute counts.”

Lance locked eyes with Shiro, instinctively searching to see if that was all okay. Shiro nodded, then directed the team to follow him to the bridge.

Coran and Lance went to the med bay with Keith’s pod following behind. Coran prepped the pod against the wall, with all the healing pods tucked away under the floor. He opened the pod, Keith only barely stirring. Lance bent down, wiping back Keith’s sweaty bangs.

“Keith? Can you hear me, sweetheart?” Lance asked, quietly.

Keith blinked at him and smiled a little.

Coran hurried to gather the glucose drip and the ventilator to help Keith breathe better. Lance stepped back and let Coran take over.

“Is there anything I can do?” Lance asked, desperately.

Coran just sighed and shook his head. “I’m going to do the best I can. But, if you plan to get any information from the Galra, then I suggest you do it quickly.”

Lance nodded, then raced off and grabbed his bags from the docking bay, changing into his armor.

He stepped onto the bridge, holding himself up as straight as he could.

“Lance, how is he?” Shiro asked, from the front of the room, next to Allura.

He headed over and sat at the blue paladin’s chair, bringing up the intel about where the fleet was in the near system.

“He’s stable. But, we need to move fast,” he said, with all the authoritative presence he could muster.

“Alright, well what do you think we should do?” Shiro asked, fully on board.

Lance gritted his teeth, studying the system and the amount of damage the fleet had gotten from the last fight with Voltron.

“Pidge and her computer needs to get into the system, so we need a proper distraction. We don’t need to take it down, we can do a covert mission,” Lance said, swiping through the intel.

“What do you suggest we do for a distraction?” Allura asked, seemingly not entirely taken to Lance’s lead.

He didn’t pay any mind to her tone. “I can get on board with Pidge while the black and yellow lion take charge against the fleet. If it’s an occupied system, it might be a tough fight. The castle would need to stay back and ready for a quick exit. The key to this, is how fast we move. Damn, I wish we had the red lion for this.”

Pidge spoke up from her seat. “If we go in Green, we can use its cloaking while the other lions are going at it in front.”

“Right, brilliant!” Lance said, finally seeing the plan come into place. “Allura, keep the castle away from the fight, we can’t risk any damage causing power reverting away from the med bay.”

She looked like she didn’t know whether or not to argue, but then nodded.

“Alright. Lance, we’ll follow you. You sound as though you’re taking this seriously,” she said, placated.

He glanced up at her. “This is Keith’s life we’re talking about. Of course, I’m taking this seriously. I don’t care about leading or whatever. This is important because it’s him.”

Shiro nodded. “And there we go. Everyone on board?”

“Aye, aye!” Pidge said, waving a hand from her seat.

“Yep, let’s do this!” Hunk called out, pumping a fist.

Lance stood, putting his helmet on. “Let’s save our resident hothead.”

Allura nodded. “Alright, paladins head to the lions and we’ll be on our way to ambush the fleet in the Gursian system.”

The team headed off and came to the lions bay. Lance sucked in a hard breath at the presence of the blue lion in his mind, finally realizing that he hadn’t noticed her for all those days. He stopped in front of her, sighing.

“Sorry, girl. I’m not taking you this time, but I promise I’ll talk to you soon.”

She seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, then turned her head in the direction of the red lion next to her. A new and completely foreign presence came forward in his mind and he stepped back in shock.

Where the blue lion felt like a calming wave of the ocean and was similar to stepping into his home when her presence was in his mind, the red lion felt like a warm sun spot blossoming in his chest and kept her instincts and emotions on the surface for him to see.

“Woah,” he breathed out in awe. “That’s…new. Hi, there. Nice to meet you.”

Pidge stopped next to the green lion. “Lance? What are you doing?”

“Uh, the red lion’s…talking to me,” he said, scratching his head. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

The red lion in his mind brought his own feelings for Keith up to examine, her gratitude and concern for her paladin was overflowing.

I want to help. I want to save him.

“You’ll let me pilot you?” he asked, not believing what was happening.

Pidge had run over to inspect the situation.

“What? The red lion wants you?” she asked, grabbing his arm. “You’re serious?”

He nodded, smiling at the feeling of the red lion in his mind. It reminded him so much of sunbathing on the sand and the taste of hot homecooked food. It was a different kind of home, but it was just as comforting.

“Yeah, she wants to help. She wants to save Keith,” he breathed out, racing to the open mouth of the red lion. “This works great, Pidge. The red lion is the fastest and can get the intel to save him the fastest. Come on!”

Pidge ran after him and came to stand behind him in the pilot’s seat. He laughed and looked around at the different controls. The swirling of the blue and red lions in his mind seemed to chase each other around, as though using Lance to connect them together.

“Wow, this is like super cool,” Lance said, grinning at Pidge next to him. “I feel both of them and they’re like…really close to each other. It’s so much like…”

“Let me guess, it feels like you and Keith,” she said, a small smile on her face.

He sighed and nodded. “I wish he was here to feel this.”

She laid a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go save him, huh?”

He gripped the red lion’s controls, bringing up the team’s feed.

“Yeah. Let’s go save him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, boy. Look at that, some red lion pilot Lance!! 
> 
> Also, we're at climax time and that means we're almost done!! Wild, I have really gotten into this. I've actually gotten some ideas for a sequel...just if anyone is interested that is. Probably at a higher rating with more ~mature~ things going on   
> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance makes a Decision and everyone is mad at him
> 
> Warning for blood, injuries and battle stuff

The castle exited the wormhole and the team didn’t waste a second leaping into action.

The black and yellow lions flew out immediately and announced themselves loudly by blasting through the side of the fleet.

“Alright, Lance, you’re up. This distraction will only last so long,” Shiro said, gritting his teeth in concentration.

Lance shot the red lion out of its hanger, reveling in the new feeling in its speed and agility. He laughed and sped around the fleet.

“Pidge, do you know where we need to land?” he asked, glancing at her.

She thought about it, pointing close to the bridge. “That should be where the main computer is. Go in just behind it, so you don’t compromise the system.”

Lance shot around and hovered close to the spot where she pointed.

“Alright, Red. You stay here and protect us from the outside, me and Pidge will go in,” he told the lion, patting her controls.

They flew out using their jet packs and settled on the outside of the hull. Pidge pulled out her bayard and cut a sizable hole, letting Lance fall in first, his bayard at the ready. He turned and immediately got to work blasting the sentinels out of their way. Pidge dropped down behind him and took out a few of her own.

Lance gestured they move as he knocked the rest down with the butt of his gun.

“Alright, Pidge. You take the lead, now, I’ve got your back,” he said, turning around as she moved in front of him.

“You know, sometimes you’re a lot like Shiro,” she said, moving swiftly on.

He cleared his throat and shook his head. “Keith said something like that, too. I don’t know about it, though. He’s way more like Shiro.”

He followed behind Pidge and let her figure out the way to the computer system.

“Yeah, when fighting. But, you’re a lot more…like his mind or presence. It’s hard to explain. It’s like if you guys are put together, you make one giant Shiro,” she said, typing away on her arm hologram. “The main system should be up ahead.”

He didn’t respond to the idea of that and just continued on, occasionally blasting down sentinels. The winding hallways just confused him and he was really hoping Pidge knew what she was doing, because he wasn’t sure he knew how to get back.

He stopped them, when he saw actual Galra stationed in front of a door.

Pidge nodded to that door, indicating that was the door they needed to get in.

It was 2 guards, about the same height as most Galra. He backed them up around the corner and breathed out. He knelt down, bringing his gun up to his shoulder, aiming at the closest Galra’s side. He calmed himself down, willing his arms to stay as still as they could be and took the shot.

The guard cried out, holding that side and going down, while the other turned and brought his own gun around to aim at Lance, he stood and ran down the hallway, dodging around the shots the Galra took and then slid under the outstretched arms, shooting them both in succession. As that one went down, he leapt up and hit them both on the heads, knocking them both unconscious.

Pidge followed in behind, connecting her computer to the control panel to open the door. Lance knelt next to her, gun at the ready.

“Lance, Pidge, how’s it going?” Shiro came in on the comm links.

“Just got to the main computer system. Pidge is doing her thing to get in,” Lance informed him. “We’ll let you know what we find.”

She only took a few more seconds typing and the door swished open, revealing at least 5 more Galra. They all stopped moving and for a split second they all just stared at each other, Lance and Pidge standing in the doorway and the Galra at the computers around them.

“Ah, shit,” Lance breathed out, grabbing Pidge and shoving her out of the way as he began blasting away.

The Galra all moved into action, running out after him, as he ran down the hall.

“I’ll get these guys, you do your thing!” he shouted at Pidge.

She didn’t have time to argue as one of them turned and came after her. She ducked under his gun and then whipped out her bayard, slicing the barrel. She then electrocuted him in the gut.

The rest of them ran after him as he called out things to keep them on his tail.

“Is it just me or are you guys kind of like furries? You yip at each other or something?” he yelled out, grinning at his joke. He yelped as he ducked under another blast. “Too on the nose?”

He whipped around a corner, skidding to a stop as another group of Galra pointed their guns at him. The group that had been chasing him cornered him and he looked between them all, at a loss as to what to do.

“Uh, any chance for a truce?” he asked, laughing nervously.

They all trained their guns on him. He counted at least 10.

“Guess not.”

He ducked and rolled, as a barrage of firepower converged above him. A few Galra seemed to go down because of friendly fire, but he didn’t stop as he brought his own bayard up and shot a few down. He was at a disadvantage though, so he gritted his teeth as a shot hit him in the leg.

It slowed him down as the pain blossomed and he shot a few more down, but there were just too many, he finally cried out in pain as another shot him in the side, just below his rib cage and where there wasn’t armor protecting him. Blood poured out from the spot and he went down against the wall hard.

The Galra all gathered around him, pointing their guns at his chest. He held up his hands in surrender.

“Lance? What’s going on?” Pidge asked, sounding as though she had heard some of it.

“Keep going,” he said, quickly. “When you’re done, get back to the red lion. Don’t look for me. Don’t wait for me, just get back to the castle.”

The galra closest to him ripped his helmet off and threw it down the hall and another on his other side grabbed his bayard, stowing it away on his belt. He hissed out a pained breath as 2 grabbed his arms and dragged him to his feet. They handcuffed him behind his back, carrying his injured body none too gently in the direction of the holding cells.

Lance sent a thought and feeling to the red lion, pleading with her to leave without him when Pidge got to her. A worried and disgruntled rumble went through him, wanting to protest. He insisted more. Keith was more important and in more danger. He was fine.

She didn’t like it. She put an image in his head of Keith being angry she left him behind and he grimaced. Yeah, that’d be hard to deal with.

He let out a moan as the galra holding him jostled him enough to send waves of pain through his whole body. He tripped and the galra just heaved him up again.

“Walk.”

He glared. “Yeah, I’ll just do that with my bleeding leg.”

The galra just huffed. “I can put you out of your misery, if you want.”

He touched a gun against Lance’s head in demonstration. Lance just sighed.

“Fine. I’ll try to walk.”

He ended up just limping the rest of the way and when they reached the holding cells, the galra pushed him unceremoniously inside. He fell over and cried out as he landed on his injured side.

“Wait here while we kill your team and then you can be turned over to the Commander.”

He just glared in response as they activated the holding cell’s barrier and Lance was left alone.

The red lion seemed to pace agitated in his mind, wanting nothing more than to rescue him.

“Please, get Pidge to the castle with the information. Keith is the one that needs your help. I’m fine.”

She really didn’t want to, but grumbled a reluctant agreement.

He listened as more and more ruckus happened outside the ship, shaking it sometimes. He breathed through his pain, the adrenaline slowly leaking out of him like the blood that was leaking out of his wound.

Suddenly, the red lion sent a thought to him that Pidge had gotten to her. He gasped, elated.

“Did she get the information? Does she know how to help Keith?” he asked, quickly.

She waited a second, then sent an affirmative.

“Oh, thank the gods. Then go! GO!” he said, loudly.

The red lion whined a little, just before she shot off. He slumped in relief. Keith was going to be fine. All of this was worth it. It didn’t matter what happened to him.

The injuries seem to get to him finally, and he felt himself slip into unconsciousness.

Keith had been in and out of awareness for a while, it seemed. Finally, somehow he blinked into consciousness, feeling loads better than he expected. It still felt like he got hit by a truck, but truthfully, he expected to be dead now.

He looked around, understanding that he was in the castle. He turned to his left and saw an exhausted, yet relieved Coran. On the other side, looking just as tired was a grim Shiro.

“Keith, my boy. How do you feel?” Coran asked.

Keith hummed, considering the question. “Better…I think. I’m pretty sure I was getting ready to die…so I’m surprised to, well not be dead.”

“Oh, thank quiznack. We’ve been so worried,” Shiro said, from his other side. He smiled, sentimental.

Keith sat up, even more surprised to be able to without groaning or even feeling pain. “What happened? How’d I…not die?”

Shiro grimaced. “Well, that’s…something we need to talk about.”

Coran waved a hand. “Just give me a second to check you over and then I’ll leave you 2 alone.”

Coran poked and prodded just like before, making Keith ‘ah’ and cough and even checked his eyes for some reason. He would hum and nod sometimes, then frown and take some notes other times.

“It seems as though you’re past the worst of it, so you can just rest until you feel all better for sure,” he said, finally. “I’ll let Shiro catch you up.”

He hurried off, probably to tell the rest of the team. Keith turned to Shiro.

“What’s going on? If I was really dying, Lance would be here,” he said, confused. “Where is he?”

Shiro sighed, sitting on Keith’s bed. “Keith, you need to listen and before you try to do something…rash…hear the whole story.”

Keith felt a sharp stab of fear. “What happened to Lance?”

Shiro winced. “It was Lance’s idea. He wanted nothing more than to save you. He was…very determined. Coran figured out it was because of your Galra genes that you got so sick so quickly. We thought if that was the case and the Galra was trying to occupy Riveon they would have a back-up plan if they would get sick. Turns out, that was a cure.”

Keith frowned. “So, you cured me, great. What does that have to do with Lance?”

Shiro dead-panned. “You know, that was a really hard mission. Pidge nearly didn’t make it out.”

Keith scowled. “Yeah, awesome I’ll thank her later, but. Where. Is. Lance?”

He just sighed, again. “Lance and Pidge went in to get the information. Lance ran off to draw the forces to him while Pidge worked to get into the system. He…took the red lion. Apparently she had wanted to help save you. She came back…with only Pidge. We had to wormhole immediately so we wouldn’t risk you getting worse.”

Keith clenched his fists. “You wormholed away…without Lance? You just left him?”

He tried to move out of bed, but felt only weakness and groaned. Shiro grabbed his shoulder to hold him back.

“Hey! This is exactly what I meant as rash.”

Keith knocked his hand away, angrily. “Yeah, like I give a shit! You left him to die! How could you?”

“Look, I know how you must be feeling. But, rushing in without considering your condition will only put him more at risk,” Shiro said, firmly. “Do you think I want to leave him to the Galra? I know better than anyone what happens to galra captives.”

Keith glowered more, but sighed. “Fine, what’s the rescue plan?”

The door opened, Pidge coming through with her computer.

“The plan? The plan is to destroy them. Mercilessly,” she said, way angrier than Keith had ever seen her. “Glad to see you’re up and not dead.”

He nodded. “Thanks. And I very much like that plan.”

She smirked. “Thought you might. Lance risked everything to get me out with the information that saved your sorry ass. So, I’m pretty pissed at him and I’ve got a few things to say.”

Keith chuckled, darkly. “Yeah, me too.”

He was ready to yell and scream at his boyfriend, starting with finally telling him that Keith loved him. Maybe right after punching him in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're really close to the end, I only have a few more chapters to go!! If you guys want a sequel you can just speak up, I've got all summer now and I've got a bunch of ideas I would love to explore


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is not having a good time and Keith wants to Murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for torture elements and sexual harassment

Lance came to on a metal table, standing upright. His hands were bound above his head and he let out an involuntary hiss of pain. He looked around, seeing a few druids floating about and a few Galra, too.

“Uh, hey there everyone. Mind telling me what’s going on?” he asked, trying to get one of them to pay attention to him.

No one even looked at him, continuing their typing or glowering.

“Hello? Hi? I’m like right here? Obviously the one you’re trying to…I don’t know…probably torture? I just kind of want to know what’s happening. And if you’re gonna maybe kill me or something,” he said, louder this time.

“Shut up.”

One of the galra back handed him across the face and he let out an ‘oomph’, then spat out the blood from where he bit the side of his cheek in the Galra’s face.

“Fuck you.”

The Galra growled in fury, reaching for the gun on his belt, only stopping when the druid hissed at him. The druid held a hand up, claws out and grabbed Lance by the front of his undersuit. It was only then that he realized they stripped him of his armor.

The claws ripped through the suit and sliced into his chest.

He couldn’t help screaming at the sensation, as though his entire body seized with electricity coursing through his veins. His mind went blank and only held pain and fear. He didn’t know anything else.

When the druid pulled away, he slumped forward and trembled at the loss of the sensation. He panted, coughing out more blood and sweat mixed with his tears down his face.

One of the galra laughed, tilting Lance’s head back up with his thumb and forefinger under his chin.

“Got any more witty quips for us, pretty boy?” he purred.

Lance bared his teeth in anger. “Thanks for the compliment, but I’m sorry to say I’m taken. And you’re really not my type, psychopath.”

The galra only cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t remember asking for permission.”

His finger drifted down Lance’s neck and he put pressure on his claw marks on his chest, causing Lance to wince.

“Oh, sorry. I like things rough,” the galra said, chuckling.

Lance glared daggers. “My very hotheaded boyfriend will really not like you. And he’s pretty intense. I’d rethink my decisions if I were you.”

The galra laughed outright at that. “I’m going to guess your ‘boyfriend’ is on your team with you? Well, I’m sorry to tell you that they abandoned you vargas ago. You’re all alone here, Paladin.”

The information washed over him.

“Vargas? Really?” he asked, stunned.

The galra smirked. “Thought your benevolent team would never betray you? Well, sorry to break it to you.”

He shook his head, laughing at the end. “Oh my gods, they left me. Thank quiznack.”

The door opened and a frazzled younger galra entered, saluting the galra that was sexually harassing Lance.

“Commander, Voltron is here. And they are attacking the fleet, again.” He said, glancing at Lance on the table.

The ship shook violently, as if to prove the soldier right. Lance’s stomach fell out from under him.

“What? They’re here?” he breathed out in shock.

The commander whipped around and bared his fangs at Lance.

“You’re going to be useful. Cut him down. Bring him to the bridge and call the Altean monstrosity of a ship,” he directed the last of the commands to the druids floating around.

They jiggled with his restraints and Lance fell to the ground, pathetically folding in on himself.

“Walk, filthy paladin.”

He stumbled to his feet, knees weak and trembling. The pain in his leg pulsed along with his other injuries. Two galra converged on his sides and held him up, holding his arms tight in their giant claws. They roughly pushed him down the corridors and his pain mixed with his fear.

Why were they here? Again? He wanted them to just get as far away as they could and help Keith and Riveon, he wasn’t supposed to be a priority.

The bridge was close to their little experiment room and soon he was stumbling onto it, with the galra pushing him onto his knees behind the commander.

“Call them.”

The engineers typed on the system and then a screen came up.

Shiro was the one who answered, from the pilot’s seat of the black lion. And Lance choked out a sob when he saw Keith, dressed in the red paladin’s armor, obviously being held up by standing behind Shiro’s seat.

“Keith…” he breathed out. “Oh thanks the gods, Keith!”

The commander growled at him, grabbing him by the front of his suit and throwing him to the ground at his feet.

“Is this what you came for?” the commander called out at the screen. “This miserable thing you call the blue paladin?”

Keith bared his teeth in fury. “Don’t you dare lay your hands on him!”

Shiro silenced Keith with a look. He turned back to the screen. “What do you want for his safe return?”

The commander grinned, kicking Lance in his injured side. He cried out in pain and tried to move away from him, pathetically.

“Are you sure you want these…damaged goods?” the commander asked, laughing.

Keith growled and Lance saw his eyes flash with murderous intent.

“Guys, I’m fine. Just go!” he called out, wincing when the commander kicked him again.

“How about the black lion?” Keith said, crazed.

Shiro whipped his head around in alarm, but Keith glared at him.

The commander belly laughed. “Wow, you’re willing to give up the black lion of Voltron for this…injured human paladin?”

Lance started to panic. That was just as ridiculous as the commander made it sound.

“Keith, sweetheart. That’s crazy. Just leave me.”

Shiro and Keith seemed to communicate something between them and then they nodded. Shiro turned his gaze back to the commander.

“The black lion for Lance. Take it or leave it.”

The commander knelt down, inspecting Lance, then looked back at the screen.

“You’re serious?” he asked, looking really suspicious.

Keith nodded. “In one varga. We’ll bring the black lion up to the neutral moon.”

The commander sighed. “Well, Emperor Zarkon would be furious if I didn’t take this chance. Pity, really. Such a beautiful prize. I could have taken him as a pet.”

He trailed a claw across Lance’s cheek, leaving a scratch and Lance winced.

Keith growled again, more threatening this time, but Shiro kept him quiet.

“Okay, deal.”

Keith was angrier than he’d ever have been. He ignored the weakness in his walk and stance and stormed onto the bridge.

“We’re going back for him.”

Allura, Coran and Hunk were silenced when they saw him and Allura sighed.

“You know, if your entire relationship is just going to be both of you constantly saving each other, it might get in the way of defeating Zarkon,” she said, exasperated.

“Fuck Zarkon and fuck all of you if you-wait, you know we’re together?” he asked, thrown off balance and he had to lean against the back of the seat Hunk was in.

Hunk giggled. “Yeah, Lance told us when he did his whole ‘we’re going to save Keith’ thing. Very reminiscent of this thing you’re doing right now.”

Keith blinked, understanding what he was saying. “Wait, really?”

Pidge and Shiro came in after him and Pidge smirked, crossing her arms. “He was very ‘I’m in love with Keith and nothing’s going to stop me. I’m going to save him’ blah, blah, blah.”

Love? In love? Lance in love with Keith?

Keith stalled entirely. Pidge only furrowed her brows in confusion.

“What? Did you really not think Lance would go after you?” she asked, scoffing.

Keith shook his head. “No, I-I just thought that…I just shouldn’t be a priority. He knew that.”

“No, he knew you thought that. And you are his priority. Just like he is to you. Which is why we are going back for him,” Shiro said. He walked to the front. “This time, we’re just going to go in hard and fast. Hunk, you’re the one to go in and rescue him. We’ll be the distraction this time. You and me, Keith.”

Both Allura and Coran started their arguments.

“He’s in no shape to fly!”

“That’s too risky! That’s 3 times attacking the same fleet!”

“It doesn’t matter! We’re going back for him!” Keith yelled, drowning them out. “I’ll go by myself if I have to!”

Allura just sighed, rubbing her temples. “Alright, alright. Shiro you’re taking lead this time. And this time? Will we please all make it back? And once we have Lance, we will go back to Riveon to distribute the cure. And then? We are all taking a day off on Riveon. Mandatory.”

Hunk whooped, pumping his fists in the air. “Allura is commanding a vacation? Awesome!”

Keith nodded, and gestured his hand. “Great, great. Let’s go!”

Shiro grabbed his shoulder. “You’re riding with me. We just need Lance to see you to distract them. You aren’t in any condition to do any piloting.”

Keith almost wanted to argue, but he knew Shiro had been right that he would risk Lance if he piloted in his condition.

“Fine.”

The mission went on, with some hitches.

When he offered the black lion, he knew that he was risking everything. But, when he saw Lance on the ground, scratches across his chest and a hole in his side and leg? It made him blind with red, hot rage. He was willing to rip apart that commander limb from limb if it meant no one touched Lance again.

They shut off the connection and Keith paced behind Shiro’s chair.

“Alright, I’m almost to the bridge. Thanks for the heads up on where he was. I may need some back up for this,” Hunk said over the comms.

Keith shot a look at Shiro.

“No. I’m putting my big brother foot down and I’m saying no.”

He rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. “If you get in my way, you’ll regret it.”

Shiro’s eyes widened with shock. “Kiddo-,”

“No, Shiro. Stop. I’m not a kid anymore,” he said, angrily. “You’re my brother and I love you for that. But I love Lance, too. And it’s not some silly infatuation. It’s the real deal. He’s mine. And I’m going to save him.”

He didn’t wait for a response, as he hurried out, using his jet pack to exit the mouth of the black lion and ride his way to the outside of the hull, not even bothering for stealth as he brought his bayard to transform and slice a hole, dropping in and using every technique drilled into his muscle memory to wipe through sentinels and galra alike.

He was like a wild animal and he yelled out, his weakness just an afterthought as he ravaged the hallway, racing to the bridge, knowing the way by heart from memorizing the map they’d gotten from the data from the computer system heist.

He rounded a corner, skidding to a stop at the sight of Hunk, standing over broken and mangled remains of sentinels.

“Hunk! I’m right behind you!” Keith yelled out, catching up to him.

Hunk turned around and sputtered. “Keith? Are you okay enough-,”

“No time for that, we have to move fast,” Keith said, not even slowing down as he sped past. “We’re almost at the bridge. Every second wasted is putting Lance in even more danger.”

Hunk hurried after. “Okay, fair point. Man, this is really sweet seeing all these super serious moments like in the movies all ‘I’m going to save him’ and stuff.”

Keith couldn’t help a small smile. “He is my boyfriend, after all.”

Hunk grinned, pointing ahead. “Right up there. I’ll take down the door. I’ll give you the honors to do a heroic entrance and get to him first.”

“Thanks. Let’s do this,” Keith said, maintaining a stance at the door, unable to stop his panting from the exertion. He needed a long nap after all this.

Hunk blasted the door with a mighty roar and Keith burst in, slicing the throats of the galra closest, moving swiftly into the room.

He took it all in and with a sigh of great relief, saw that Lance was still there, at the mercy of the commander. He was at the front of the bridge, kneeling in front of the commander and was currently staring in shock at Keith.

“What the-,” Lance said, before he was hoisted up, a knife to his throat by the commander.

“Not another step, paladins.”

They stopped in their tracks, weapons frozen in the air.

“If you want your little plaything alive, then you will drop your weapons.”

Lance glanced between Keith and the commander, then shook his head minutely. Keith scowled, then deactivated his bayard, but then suddenly got an idea.

“Fine. I’ll drop it.”

He threw it expertly and Lance immediately caught it, activating it without a second to waste and plunged his gun against the chest of the commander and fired. He dropped Lance to the ground and fell back with a garbled yelp.

Lance cried out in pain at the fall and Keith sprinted to his side, dodging the galra shots and sentinel arms. Keith dropped to his knees next to Lance’s injured body.

“Oh, gods, what did they do to you?” he asked, checking Lance over and cupping his cheek.

“How are you here? You should be resting!” Lance said, grimacing in pain.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Come on, not you too. I’m fine. You are not.”

He turned to the fight. “Hunk!”

Hunk blasted through the rest of the soldiers and ran towards them.

“Yeah, I knew you were too weak. You can’t even carry me,” Lance said, glaring. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Keith swiped a thumb just under the cut on Lance’s cheek. “I just couldn’t let you go after this. That guy…he touched you. And it just made me so mad.”

Lance just grabbed Keith’s hand and kissed his knuckles. “We’ll talk about it all later, alright?”

Keith nodded, blushing at the affection.

“Let’s get you out of here.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith are reunited and neither died, hooray!

The rescue attempt really did go off without a hitch, all of the paladins safely on board the castle and the castle wormholed away. Keith breathed a long sigh of relief when Lance was in the healing pods for all his injuries.

The weakness from his own recovery being cut short finally hit him like a ton of bricks and he sunk to the ground, with a coughing fit. Shiro grabbed him and lifted him to lay back on his cot on the other side of the med bay.

“You both are going to take 20 years off my life,” Shiro said, exasperated. “How are you doing?”

Keith coughed again. “Well, I’m just peachy. Also, I really hate you just picking me up whenever you feel like it.”

Shiro shrugged. “It’s not my fault you’re teeny tiny.”

Keith growled. “Oh yeah, giant muscle monster?”

Shiro chuckled. “Just wait for Coran. He’ll give you some more medicine. Then I’ll leave for you to have your ~alone~ time with your boyfriend.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I swear to all the gods, Shiro. I will fight you.”

Shiro just shook his head. “I’ll wait for the day.”

Keith laid back, sighing and groaning at the pulsing headache. He really was too weak to have gone out. Coran came in, typing away on a device, then typing into the computer.

“Alright, now we’re going to see how Lance and Keith are doing,” Coran said, breathing out. “The princess is setting the course for RIveon and distributing the cure we found in the data Pidge got. Keith, rest. If you get up again, I’ll personally tie you down myself.”

Shiro laughed. “I don’t know if that will hold him.”

Keith glared at him. “Yeah, okay, Coran. Just wake me up when Lance does, alright?”

Coran sighed. “You both are such troublemakers. Fine, fine. But, right now you are going to take this medicine and you are going to sleep.”

Keith nodded. “Alright.”

The rest of the day spent with hearing updates with the cure getting distributed on Riveon and his own recovery. He slept on and off, but after a while, he couldn’t sleep anymore and asked for his bag from Riveon, trying to dig through to find his drawing supplies. He stopped when he pulled out a pale green wooden box, similar to the stuff that Rivans built with.

He was confused by it, not remembering when he would have something like this. He opened it, gasping when he found what was inside.

It was a beautiful conch shell, with red and blue colors shifting into purple and between them all.

“Is this what people call ‘symbolic’ or something?” he asked himself, bringing the shell up to his face.

A warmth spread through him. He set it on his bedside table, smiling at it. He was glad he came across it, because now he actually wanted to draw. He brought out his supplies and got to work, finishing his sketch of Lance as a merman, letting himself relax into the state he was in when he started the sketch. Like stepping back into an emotion that was warmth and sunshine, with the smell of seawater. It helped that his sketchbook actually still smelt like Riveon.

He drew Lance, with hair framing his face, a little longer than he had in real life. He made his tail gold at first, but something didn’t look right. So, he started over and made the tail blue. And that didn’t seem right, either. He was stumped, thinking about it, until he turned his attention to the shell next to him.

The color caught his eye and he lit up, grinning.

He made Lance’s tail that shifting color of blue, red and purple. The alien pens made it much easier than he thought it would be, turning out even better than he expected. He added sunbeams around him and made Lance’s expression just as elated and exhilarated as he remembered.

Keith let the sketchbook fall in his lap, finally finished and he sighed. He missed Lance.

He jumped, when the healing pod on the other side of the med bay released a wisp of air, indicating that Lance was done healing. Keith jumped up, only stopping a moment to let his head catch up. He then hurried to stand in front of the pod, just as it swished open and a groggy Lance fell forward, into Keith’s waiting arms.

Lance groaned, eyes blinking open and settling on Keith.

“Oh, hey,” Lance said. “Hm, so…what’s up?”

Keith chuckled, finally letting himself feel real relief. “Hey. Nothing much, just drawing stuff. And, you know recovering.”

Lance rubbed his head, looking down at himself. “So, still got all my limbs? And I’m still alive?”

Keith shrugged. “Seems like it. And I’m not currently dead, either. So, we did pretty good.”

Lance grinned. “Yeah. Except you know. That entirely crazy plan about you coming back for me? And fighting even though you barely aren’t dying from a virus?”

Keith glared. “How about that idiotic plan that left you in Galra clutches? Almost getting you killed?”

Lance dropped his smile, then glared back. “How about when you didn’t tell me about being sick to begin with? That ended up with me coming up with a last resort mission?”

Keith opened his mouth, about to argue back, but just sighed. “Yeah, okay. You got me there.”

Lance closed his eyes, then took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and then smiled. “Alright, come on. Get me over to the bed.”

Keith wrapped an arm around Lance’s middle and slowly got them both to sit on the cot. He moved his sketchbook to the table, but Lance quickly grabbed his hand.

“Wait, is that…what I think it is?” he asked, eyes stuck to the page that was open.

“Oh. Yeah,” Keith said, handing the sketchbook over to Lance. “I finished it while you were out. I’ve been on sick leave.”

Lance chuckled at that, but still grinned at the sketch. “Gods, Keith. How are you so damn cool? This is…just amazing.”

Keith smiled sadly, turning himself to sit with his knee up to face Lance head on. “I just…wanted to think about the good times.”

Lance slowly stopped smiling, turning with a leg up on the cot, too. “Keith, I’m sorry about…well, everything. I just…didn’t want to see you die. It made me crazy to think about. Maybe…it made me take too many risks.”

Keith laughed, darkly. “Trust me, I get that. I nearly ripped that commander apart.”

Lance made a face. “Ugh, that guy. He seriously skeeved me out. Made all these weird come ons to me.”

Keith felt some white-hot jealousy. “I’m so glad you shot that guy in the chest. Incredibly glad.”

Lance laughed, cupping Keith’s cheek. “I’m just fine. I literally shot him down. Pretty sure it’s a surefire rejection.”

Keith grinned, laying a hand on Lance’s. “I was just…so scared. I’ve probably never been so scared in my whole life.”

Lance sighed, nodding. “I get it. I was scared, too. I didn’t want to lose you.”

“I thought about it all, when I was drawing. We’re paladins. We’re going to be constantly in danger. What are we going to do if we’re constantly worried about each other like this?” he asked, quietly.

Lance looked away, then stopped on the shell on the table.

“Wait. I have an idea,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s hand. “Let me change and then we’re going down to the lions bay.”

Lance walked into his room, sighing at how sterile and usual it was. It was nothing like their house on Riveon. He was going to miss it, gravely.

He stripped off his healing pod suit and stopped at the sight of him in the mirror. He now had quite a few more scars. The claw marks on his chest bothered him the most. He wished the healing pods healed scars.

He changed into new clothes and splashed his face some, to try and get rid of the healing pod feeling. He walked out, but stopped at the sight of Keith awkwardly standing outside his door.

Lance cocked his head. “What are you…”

Keith sheepishly scratched his head. “I got…nervous not being near you.”

Lance’s heart melted and he smiled at his boyfriend, holding out his hand, Keith took it and squeezed. “Babe, you’re so soft.”

Keith pouted, grumbling. “I’m not that soft. I’m dangerous and a fighter.”

Lance giggled. “Yes, yes. My very dangerous little boyfriend. Who likes cuddles and hippos and drawing.”

Keith playfully glared. “Shut up.”

They walked together, slowly to make up for how weak they both still felt.

“Tell me really. How are you feeling?” Lance asked, glancing at Keith.

He sighed. “I’m better than I was. But, at most I’m at maybe 65%. How about you?”

Lance shrugged. “Physically, I’m okay. Psychologically…I might be having nightmares for a while.”

He touched the place on his chest where the claw marks were.

Keith brought their hands up and kissed Lance’s knuckles. “We can deal with it. Together.”

Lance relaxed, drawing strength from Keith’s support. They reached the lions bay and Lance relaxed further, reveling in the mind meld with both of the lions in connection.

Keith gasped, squeezing Lance’s hand and turning to look at the blue lion in awe and he laughed, eyes wide.

“Both of them? That’s what you felt before?” Keith asked, looking quickly between the two lions. “It’s so…familiar.”

Lance grinned, breathing in the feeling of the two lions immensely grateful that their Paladins were safe. Even as the red lion grumbling at him for forcing her to leave him.

“It feels like us, right?” he said, winking at Keith.

Keith laughed fully, nodding. “So much like us. I guess it makes sense. Does this mean I could pilot the blue lion, too?”

Lance shrugged. “Yeah, probably. But, maybe only if I was in mortal danger or something.”

Keith hummed. “So, like next week, then?”

“Oh, yeah sure like you’re one to talk, you martyr.”

The lions bay door opened, revealing the entire team. Hunk rushed forward, wrapping the two of them in a big hug that picked them off the ground.

“Alright, that’s it you two. No more sacrificing yourselves, okay? I was so worried. We all were,” Hunk said, eyes shiny with tears.

Lance and Keith exchanged equally guilty smiles and they patted Hunk on the back.

“I’m really sorry, buddy. Didn’t mean to scare you,” Lance said after he set them both down.

Pidge stomped forward, with her arms crossed, then pointed straight at his chest.

“You asshole. Utter asshole. You really just told me to leave you behind? And then didn’t even give me a chance to ignore you and forced the red lion to sweep me off? Fuck you,” she said, but her tears gave her away and her lip quiver.

Lance laughed, sheepishly. “Sorry, Pidgeon. I just wanted to make sure all of you were safe.”

Allura stepped forward. “Lance, you need to understand. We all trust your judgement. More than we even knew. And we’re sorry, for treating you like you thought you weren’t important. Because you are. Both of you are. So, please. Don’t sacrifice yourselves needlessly. We are a team. You can rely on us more.”

They looked at all of their friends, their family.

“Oh, guys, we’re so sorry. I didn’t know that you all…felt this way,” Lance said, grimacing.

Keith nodded, wrapping his hand in Lance’s. “I’m sorry, too. I should have told you guys as soon as I started feeling sick.”

Shiro sighed, shaking his head. “Does this mean you’re going to open up to us more?”

Keith shrugged. “I guess I can try.”

Hunk grinned, excitedly running in place. “Oh, come on. This is so a group hug moment.”

Lance laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I agree. Group hug.”

Hunk wrapped them all up and Keith only mildly grumbled. It was even less than Pidge, who nearly yelled at being stuck in the middle, and being the shortest, meant she got the least amount of space to breathe.

Lance laughed and couldn’t crying a little. When they stepped out of the hug, he stepped closer to Keith and Keith wrapped an arm around his waist.

“So, could we actually get the full story with all that?” Hunk asked, pointing to them embracing.

They looked at each other and then Keith looked slightly insecure. Lance cupped his cheek.

“Only if you want to,” Lance said, quietly.

Keith nodded. He turned back to the team. “So, um. I want to show you all something.”

They congregated in the lounge area, Keith and Lance sitting at the front, Keith’s sketchbook sitting in his lap.

“So, well…we got closer because we shared a lot with each other on Riveon. One of which is my…hobby?” Keith said, constantly glancing at Lance for affirmation.

Lance could barely hold in a whine because Keith was just adorable. He nodded at Keith to keep going.

Keith gave him a grateful smile, then turned the pages to the sketch of the entire team.

“So, um. I want to show you guys, too,” he said, passing the sketchbook to Shiro. He sighed at the sketch.

Shiro grinned, sentimental. “Keith, I knew you liked to draw, but you’ve never let me see it. You’re really talented.”

Hunk grabbed the book, smiling widely at the image. “Wow, dude. This is awesome! Look at me, all badass and heavyweight!”

Pidge climbed on Hunk’s side to look, too. “Keith. You’re way softer than you let on, huh?”

Keith only crossed his arms and grumbled. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Lance laughed, wrapping an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “He’s super soft. Along with being a super cool samurai. He’s got layers.”

Keith blushed. “Lance said that I should be more open with you guys, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Allura grinned, kindly as she looked at the sketch. “We’re really glad you’re opening up to us. This takes a lot of courage.”

Lance pointed to her. “You should turn the pages to the front of the book. You’ll really like that one.”

She cocked her head, then did as he said. She gasped at the portrait Keith did of her, complete with juniberry flowers in her hair.

“Oh, Keith. This is beautiful.”

Keith blushed further until he was beat red. “I’m gay, but even I can see you’re really pretty.”

Lance chuckled, kissing Keith’s temple, fondly. “My big tough samurai boyfriend, everyone.”

The entire team laughed, Keith reluctantly joining in, too.

“So, this is very disgusting and sweet. But, that explains how Lance fell in love with Keith, I mean come on,” Pidge said, showing the sketch of Lance in armor. “What about Keith falling for Lance, hm?”

Lance couldn’t help blushing at that one. He didn’t even think about asking about that in front of the team. Although, he definitely wondered that himself.

Keith scoffed. “I did that before we got quarantined together. I liked him pretty much from the get-go.”

Lance froze and whipped his head around. “Huh? Wait, really?”

Keith shrugged, now so red that it looked like he got a fever again. “Well, yeah. It was on Riveon that it got…a lot more.”

Lance felt his entire heart surge and he grinned like mad. “Aw, babe that’s so cute!”

Pidge just grimaced. “Oh, is this how you’re gonna be from now on? Ugh, gross.”

Allura sighed, fondly. “I think it’s sweet.”

Keith pouted, as everyone just ‘aw’ed. Lance chuckled against the side of Keith’s head.

“Alright, well I think it’s time for that day off, as the Rivans are now all taking the cure,” Coran said, typing away on his pad.

Lance pumped a fist in the air. “Yes! Beach party!”

The team all did the same. Lance felt so relieved at how much he loved his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, one more chapter left to go!


	22. Chapter 22: The finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith are now facing it all. Together.

“Keith, Lance, oh thank the oceans you’re alright!”

“Baraniss!” they said in unison and swept their friend up in a hug.

She squeezed them tight, tears on her face. “Oh, I was so worried! Keith, you got ill and then I heard Lance got captured by the galra and just, oh you two, why can you both not just stay safe?”

They chuckled, setting her down in the sand. Keith bowed his head.

“I’m sorry for worrying you. We didn’t mean to,” he said, guilty.

Lance sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, we’re really sorry. We got yelled at by the rest of the team, so you kind of got beat to that.”

Baraniss just sighed, then laid hands on both of their faces. “As long as you both are safe. And you even found a way to get a cure for the plague! It is incredible! My people have not been this happy for deca-pheobs!”

Keith smiled, but then couldn’t help his grief to shine through. “I’m sorry we didn’t get it in time to save Rosina.”

Baraniss just shook her head. “Even by all accounts, she was too sick. I know she is at peace, now. The oceans have taken her back.”

They hugged her again, gently.

“Hey, you gonna introduce us to your friend?” Pidge came in behind them, poking her head around.

Keith grinned, laying a hand on Baraniss’ shoulder. “This is Baraniss. She’s like our Rivan best friend.”

Baraniss grasped her fin and bowed. The whole team smiled, kindly at her.

“I was Rosina’s partner. Thank you for trying your hardest to take care of her. And I have enjoyed every moment with Lance and Keith. I love them as I love my people.”

Shiro grinned, proud. “Oh, Keith made such a sweet friend, I’m so proud!”

Keith held up a threatening fist. “I swear to the gods, Shiro.”

“Ah, this is the Shiro you spoke of,” she said, nodding. “You seem just as heroic as they said.”

Shiro’s eyes widened, then he turned a smirk on Keith. “Oh, really?”

He glared back. “One word and I will throw you right into the ocean.”

Lance laughed, shaking his head. “One step at a time, alright? Keith is still prickly sometimes.”

Keith huffed. “I am not ‘prickly’.”

Lance looked unimpressed. “Yeah, not prickly at all.”

Keith stuck his tongue out at him and Lance laughed, again, wrapping a hand around his shoulders.

“Why don’t we get this beach party started, hm?” Lance said.

They ended up just laying out on the beach, with a lot of the Rivans joining them and passing around food and drink. Lance and Keith stayed together, close on the sand.

Keith pinched Lance’s shirt with a questioning eyebrow. “Why aren’t you showing off your golden tan skin?”

Lance turned nervous, touching a spot on his chest. “Uh, well…I just have new scars. And I don’t know if I’m ready to show those off, too.”

He reached and grabbed Lance’s hand. “Come on, I’ve got my scars, too. Even Shiro has his shirt off.”

He gestured at the man, in all his infinite muscled glory. He was laying on the sand, looking the most relaxed Keith had ever seen since coming into space. All the scars he’d gotten as the champion of the ring was on display, too.

Lance sighed. “Alright, just…don’t stare, okay?”

He slowly pulled his shirt over his head and Keith maintained eye contact, even if he wanted to glance fully at the offending claw marks marring his boyfriend’s perfect skin. He just smiled.

“There you go, just as beautiful as ever,” Keith said, fondly.

Lance smiled back, still insecure. “Yeah, well…these were from a druid. While they, you know. Tortured me.”

Keith nodded, showing he was listening.

Lance turned back to the waves and sighed. “The one on my back is from saving Coran. So, its kind of cool and badass. But, these are just reminders of how helpless I was.”

Keith frowned. “You got them when you were saving me. I only see your bravery and selflessness when I look at them.”

Lance’s lip quivered as he tried to smile. “Really? You think I’m brave?”

Keith kissed his cheek, lovingly. “The bravest I ever known.”

Lance sniffled as more tears fell. “You know, you’ve been really soft and open since we came here and if you don’t be mean again, I’m going to keep crying and it will be embarrassing for the both of us.”

Keith laughed, laying his face against Lance’s. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you dork.”

The rest of the day went by with just as much relaxation that they needed as a team. Lance and Keith spent every moment together, joined at the hips. Keith was so warm and at peace, and he just snuggled closer to Lance.

Hunk seemed to be having a ball in the ocean and Pidge was quite popular with the kids as she demonstrated her technology and they ‘oohed’ and ‘ahed’. Allura looked glamorous with her swimsuit and magnificent figure stretched out leisurely on the sand. Coran was excitedly talking to all the locals they could, including Baraniss.

“Do you think that maybe…they would let us spend the night? Just one more?” Lance asked, sadly. “I’m not ready to say goodbye to this place, yet.”

Keith hummed, sitting up and looking out at the sunset. “Yeah, I kind of want to stay, too.”

He stood, wiping the sand off his swim trunks and headed over, sitting next to Shiro.

“Hey, uh, do you mind if Lance and I stay in our little house here, one last time?” he asked, nudging Shiro a little, in case he was dozing.

Shiro blinked, then sent Keith a smirk. “Of course, kiddo. Spend tonight in your cute little honeymoon suite.”

Keith glared. “Still willing to throw you into the ocean, jackass.”

Shiro laughed. “Alright, alright. Come on, he’s your first boyfriend. It would be against my big brother programming if I didn’t tease you sometimes.”

Keith just rolled his eyes, shoving Shiro over. They laughed together and Keith felt right with the universe again.

Lance asked Keith to just walk along the beach with him once the team went back up to the castle. They held hands and once the suns set down and night settled the village to a calm rustle, they sat in the warm shallows.

“I’m going to miss this place. With Baraniss and everyone,” Lance said, bittersweet feelings. “It’s so much like home.”

Keith nodded, cupping a hand of water and watching it fall through his fingers. “You know I’d never actually seen the ocean. On Earth, I mean. So, I never thought about how beautiful it was or what it was like. Mostly, it sounded like…annoying. But, now when I think of the ocean, I’ll think about this place. And, well you and Baraniss and Rosina.”

Lance had a small smile on his face grow. “You know, when we go back to Earth. I want to take you to see my family. I want to take you to see Cuba, my home.”

Keith turned a shocked look on him. “Really? You want…me to see Cuba? To meet your family? I don’t know, that’s…serious boyfriend stuff. I’m still so…prickly.”

Lance giggled. “Keith, _mi alma,_ that’s okay. I want them to love you just like you are. Like I love you.”

Keith sputtered and an adorable flush covered his neck and face. “I-I would…I would love to meet your family. And…I love you, too.”

Lance grinned so wide he was sure to get wrinkles. He leaned forward and met Keith’s lips with his own. Keith responded immediately, wrapping his arms around Lance’s shoulders and with the angle so awkward, Keith moved around and straddled Lance’s hips.

Lance made a small noise of surprise by his boldness, but took it in stride and grabbed Keith’s hips. He gasped when Keith sucked on his bottom lip and Keith took the advantage and deepened the kiss.

It was just like them, a constant battle, a push and pull. Like the waves of the ocean, they moved together as one and at the same time, they fought and took some time to find a balance. Keith was more demanding at first and Lance was more nervous, more insecure. After a few minutes, they found their rhythm.

Lance breathed in the saltwater, Riveon and just Keith. He broke away, panting at how long they’d been kissing. He blinked at Keith, with his wide purple eyes that held galaxies and worlds.

He grinned, setting their foreheads together.

“ _Mi alma,_ you are just…so amazing. I’m so glad I found you,” he said, laughing in exhilaration.

“Being around you feels like flying,” Keith breathed out, expression as open as he’d ever seen. “I just…I really, really love you.”

Lance kissed Keith’s entire face, making the boy giggle. “I love you, too.”

Keith kissed Lance’s nose. “By the way, what was that you were calling me?”

Lance laughed, nervously. “Oh, you know…it’s better in Spanish. Gives it more romantic meaning. But, uh, it directly translates to ‘my soul’.”

Keith’s eyes widened comically and he sputtered, turning red again. “That’s…super romantic. I know a few Spanish pet names. One of the _better_ foster homes, the parents spoke Spanish to each other and one time I asked what one of them meant. He said he called her _mi sirenita.”_

Lance melted. “Aw, my mami used to call me that.”

Keith grinned, nodding. “’My little mermaid’, it fits you.”

Lance shrugged. “Well, I mean if you wanted to be the grammar police, for me it was _‘sirenito’_ because you know. I’m a boy.”

Keith looked thoughtful. “Ah, yeah. That makes sense. So, that means you want me to call you that? I don’t know really about pet names. You’re kind of…my first boyfriend.”

Lance sighed, fondly. “I’d love that. I might cry, though. Fair warning. I haven’t heard someone speak Spanish to me since I left Cuba. And the really racist things people would say to me at the Garrison, but we don’t need to talk about that.”

Keith looked surprised, then thoughtful. “What if I asked you to teach me Spanish? I mean we have like a while before we defeat the galra, right? I could probably learn it in that time.”

Lance blinked, then he really did cry.

Keith freaked out, backing up in his lap. “Oh, was that too much? I didn’t mean-,”

Lance shook his head, smiling through his tears. “Happy tears, _mi alma._ So happy.”

Keith sighed in relief, then laughed a little. “Okay. Okay then. We’ll add that to the list. Star Wars marathon, Cuba, more drawings and Spanish.”

“Don’t forget tattoos!” Lance said, a finger in the air.

Keith chuckled. “Right and tattoos. You know, it’ll probably take a while to get done.”

Lance nodded, pulling Keith closer and kissing him again.

“It’s a good thing we have the rest of our lives, now, huh?”

And while their hands wrinkled in the seawater, the stars twinkling above them and the sound of ocean waves in the background, Lance and Keith started the rest of their lives just as they always should have: together in each other’s arms.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it folks! I have some sequel writing, but it will mostly be just some scenes from them dating in the future, not a full fic like this one.
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading! I had a lot of fun! I love these boys so much and it was really nice to get it down in words!


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